The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-18 00:00:00

entitled to the enjoyment of the property thit
belonged to his father; and I trust he will make good
use of it."
Mrs. Chard clasped her to her heart, and lavished
caresses on her. _ _ _

"My own trul-liearted child, I knew this would be
the ultimate decision at which you must arrive.
Does the prospective change in your fortune incline
you to take a second thought over Mr. ALsop's pro-
posal 2"
"By no means: Mr. Alsop can be nothing to me.
End his suspense at once, if you please, mamma."

CHAPTER X.
THE CLAIRVOYANT.
IN the same room in which General Chard's death had

occurred sat two persons; one was a woman, wear-
ing an inscrutable calmness of demeanour, who had
won fame in the salons of London as a mesmerist and

clairvoyant; the other a man of thirty-five, with the
careless, defiant expression of one who had seen life in
many of its hardest phases, and snatched such
pleasures as came within his reach, without much
regard to consequences, either to himself or others.
He was quite six feet in height, with a complexion
browned to the hue of the olive, with a thick suit of
_ _ _

heavy black hair, and eyes of that rayless darkness
which seem to absorb light and emit none. It was a
pitiless, an unscrupulous eye, and woe to him or her
on whom its fiery glance fell with a purpose of evil.
A heavy moustache and whiskers covered the lower
part of the face, concealing the sensuous lips and coarse
jaw.

He spoke in a doubting tone—
"Your skill has been highly vaunted to me, madam,
and the services I require of you is of such importance
to me, that I am willing to pay you any reasonable
sum to obtain it."
"Speak, then, to the point, and if I can aid you I
will do so. There is a limit to the power I possess,
but as far as it extends I will do your bidding."
"Tell me truly, can you place yourself in rapport
with another person in magnetic slumber, and wring
from him a secret he is unwilling to impart ?"
"That depends on the condition of his mind. If
the secret desired in the one dominant idea at the
moment of communication, I can reveal it."

" You feel assured of this ?'
"I do, for I have done it more than once."
"I warn you, madam, that the test I require of you
will, in a few hours, prove the truth or falsity of your
pretensions."
She smiled disdainfully as she replied:
"I am no charlatan; the power that belongs to me
was my birthright; I do not comprehend its mystery
—I do not seek to fathom its origin. It is enough
that I know I possess it for the aid of others, as well
as to gain the means of subsistence for myself. When
can I see your friend ?"
"In two hours he will be ready to receive you. I
must prepare his mind for the interview before it
takes place, for he is an invalid, unable to leave his
bed. From an accident which happened to him
several years ago, his intellect is slightly shattered,
and it becomes necessary to deal with him as a child.
A lawsuit in which he is deeply interested is about to
be instituted, and he capriciously withholds from me
the knowledge necessary for the recovery of impor-
tant papers. He is possessed with an idea that if I
obtain them, his life, which is now important to me,
will no longer be cared for—that once in possession of
the property, I will leave him to perish. It is an
absurd hallucination, for he is as deeply interested in
the success of the suit as I am, and the fortune
obtained from it will enable us both to revel in wealth
through all our future lives."
Madame Latude, for such was the name of the
mesmerist, listened with intense interest, and her
deep calm eyes never wandered from the face of the
speaker; she seemed to be analysing it with all the
singular intuition with which nature had gifted her.
An expression of painful doubt passed over her face,
but she finally said:
"I will undertake what you wish, sir. Success, as
I told you, depends on circumstances. Prepare the
mind of your friend to dwell on the subject you
wish to investigate, and I will do my best to serve
you."
"Very well, madam. Two hours hence a carriage
will be sent for you. It will convey you to a
respectable private boarding-house in South London.
I will meet you in the hall, and take care that no in-
terruption occurs until our experiment is ended. I
will pay you half your fee in advance, to prove to you
how much in earnest I am. Get the truth for me, and
I shall even be willing to double that."
She glanced with surprise at the amount of the
note he handed her, and graciously said:
"It is not often that I find so liberal a patron. I
will certainly aid you to the fullest extent of my
power."
He departed, and at the hour named a close carriage
drew up in front of Madame Latude's residence.
Heavily muffled in a plain dark cloak, with a thick
veil over her face, she took her seat in the vehicle,
and was rapidly whirled to the place of meeting. She
had no misgivings as to this course, for in the exer-
cise of hei vocation she was often called upon to go
alone to the most remote parts of the city. Relying
on her power to read character and motives she had
never hitherto found herself deceived, and her confi-
dence had increased with the exercise of her anomalous
gift.
She was driven through a narrow street near Ken-
nington Oval, and the carriage stopped in front of a
shabby-looking house, with a card inthe fan-light over
the door bearing the single word, "Apartments."
Giving directions to the driver to return for her in
half an hour, Madame Latude alighted and entered a
scantily-furnished hall, in which she was met by her
late visitor.
Merely motioning to her to follow him, he ascended
three flights of shabby, uncarpeted stairs, until they
stoou under the roor. 'Unclosing a badly fitting door,
the two entered a low-ceilinged room, lighted by two
attic windows, and warmed by-a meagre fire in a small
stove. The furniture was old and begrimed with dust,
and the bare floor looked as if years had passed
since the purifying qualities of water had been known
to it.

A couch with wretched bedding upon it was drawn

in front of the stove, and on it rested the attenuated
form of a man who had once evidently possessed
powerful physical strength, but who now seemed re-
duced to the weakness and helplessness of childhood.
His black hair, thickly threaded with grey, hung in
neglected masses oy-er his brows, and his wild eyes
wandered restlessly toward the figures which had just
entered. He feebly muttered:
"Who is this, Alfred? A nurse, at last? I don't
want her—l don't want any new people around me.
Take her away, and let me alone. I am going to
sleep."
"My dear fellow, this is not the nurse—l have not
been able to get a suitable one yet. This lady is only
a friend who has come to visit you. You remember
Roselands and the boyish days you passed there.
Madame Latude knows something of the place, too,
and she can talk with you about the home of your
boyhood."
He made an effort to lift his head, but sank back as
ha angrily said—
" You have only brought her here to worm the
secret out of me. No—l shall not talk with her on
that subject. Let you gain the knowledge you seek,
and I may lie here and die like a dog, or be sent to
the poor-house to fill a pauper's grave? No—no—
take her away I say—l have nothing to say to her."
"But, my dear fellow, am I not seeking to benefit
yourself more than any one else? The money, when
gained, will be more yours than mine, but I do not
believe that you really know where the will was
placed. If you do, you would have told me long
"You don't, ha! well, it's no matter what you be-
lieve; but I could walk to the spot now if this weak-
ness would let me. I see it before me now, all
matted over with grass and weeds, but safe enough
—safe enough. Nobody will ever suspect its hiding-
place."
As he thus rambled on, Madame Latude drew near
the head of the couch, put forth her ungloved hand
and made a few mysterious motions over the brow of
the sick man. His features rapidly began to settle
into immobility, and even his lips remained half closed
as if arrested in the act of speaking. His breath came
heavily and gaspingly, and he seemed as if lying under
!some powerful spell.
1 She then moved around in front of him, like one
walking in sleep, and laid her hand upon his corm-
:gated forehead. She sank slowly to a kneeling position,
iand lifting his left hand, placed it upon her own head;
in a few minutes her eyelids drooped as if weighed
Idown by fatigue, and vague broken murmurs issued
..from her lips.
At first they were unintelligible, but gradually the
listener caught words that made his heart beat rapidly,
for he knew that they were shaping themselves into
reminiscences of the long buried past of the stricken
wretched being whose individuality the clairvoyant
had for the time assumed,
" Roselands—my happy home—no--it should have
been, but it was not—the rule was too strict for me.
Ungrateful! Do you not see the white hair—the
clasped hands of that old man? What does he say?
Come back—only come, and you shall be free as air—
oh ! too late! too late I
(To be continued.)

A_GREAT many petty trials of life would cease to

_
trouble us if we only thought how little they will
matter a thousand years hence.
GOOD temper, like a sunny day, sheds a brightness
over everything. It is the sweetener of toil and the
soother of disquietude.
LIFE needs for its happiness, and character for its
_ _

stability, a definite aim, energetically and regularly
pursued. Whatever monotony there is in that,
is itself an element of happiness which men
cannot afford to do without. it gives security,
confidence, and trust in themselves and in each other.
It gives zest to life and makes relaxation possible and
pleasurable.
CEYLON has always had a reputation for its richness
in precious stones. Inferior kinds, such as the moon-
stone and the garnet, are found in the beds of streams
about Kandy, Newara Eleya, Badulla, and some of the
'small rivers of the south; but the more precious
t' tones, such as the ruby, the blue sapphire, the
riental topaz of various yellows, the Alexandrite,
nd the cat's-eye, must be sought for within a radius
of thirty or forty miles from 3atnapura, the oity of
gems - --