The Newtown bee., 1879-08-13
An Independent Opinion.

Arabella was my beloved object, and with Arabella and Der aunt l was to travel from London to Exeter: She was young and charming, but, as even then perceived, somewhat frivolous III character She liked dancing, and what was worse-danclng with military men rather than with civilians; and she had no opinion of her own as to books that is to say, she was not quite so cer- tain as she ought to have been (for l yyas) of the supreme excellence of par ticuiar story of mine which had not only been given to the public in three-vol- ume form, but had recently obtained the honors of cheap edition. She liked to hear "what other people thought about it." which was clearly an act ot dlsloy- atty to me, US well as "proof of har S1r-r' atjef. Salet saidf is66 dfdh [ care fof tth6 opinions of friends and relatives about it." remark which showed her to be deficient in natural affection and the rev erence that is implanted even in the breast of the savage; and she wanted to know if l was personally acquainted with my reviewers, which argued sus- picion of the basest sort.
 Nevertheless, I loved Arabella, and would have married her if an allowance of one hundred pounds year and tastes that would have done honor to one ot a thousand, would have permitted 1t. AS it was, we had agreed to wait and live in hope, which is certainly preferable to living on it. ~...
 At Paddington Station, after seeing the ladies comfortably settled in the car riagJ, of course 1 went to the book-staI to see if the .' Bandit of the Apennines' Git was net domestic story like this by any means) was properly displayed, and to put a few careless questions as to how it was going off. In point of fact, | meant to buy it, for always encouraged sale in that way whenever l took jour ney. To my surprise and horror there was not copy on the stall. ''This is the way" thought 1, !" that great reputa- manded my temper (which is beautiful, but hasty) so far as to ask of the person in charge how this infamy had occurred. 7 Well, sir said he, ''t the explanation is very simple; we have just sold the last copy of that book"
 If had had one to spare-but the fact was, that fare to Exeter had made great hole in my quarters allowance--I could have given that man sovereign
 "Is there any other book, sir?" he continued, winningly. @
 .'0ther bookp No, indeed, thought |. ''I hate your railway literature. !" And had I not got my Arabella, the prettiest picture-book in the world, to look at throughout the journey?
 HThe sale of the { Bandit is pretty good, supposeP" remarked I, indiffer- sntly.
 .E x it's very quiet,D he answered, dryly. Now, what could be mean by Mat?n ' The term .' quiet" as applied to the :. Bandit of the Apennines was mon strous misnomer; he lived, in fact, in a lurid atmosphere made up of combates escapes, and wholesale massacres; the man must, therefore, have restricted his observations to the sale of the book only. In that case he probably meant "quietly prosperous '--not influenced by fits and starts of public favor, but growing more and more into popularity as its merits became known.
 < You say, my man, that you have just sold the last copy said I, afably. Would you kindly tell me-for l hap pen to take an interest in the author how many copies did you take to begin withp'f 3aa fl aaaas 'aE gaa As8 5 tssJem ,''scried he to small boy at his side, whose head was only half above e the counter, How many had we at first of that ere Bandit of the Apen- mines p'nA t5aaaS1@M sa3 9t s999a
 "Oh. Mats We never had but one, J leplie d the small boy, ssys
 Again I say that I trust the desire or blood is not so culpable in the eyes of the recording as the actual nbrue-a ment of the hand in human gore. 4ls iSsI fled to my railway carriage with the rsmothered ,execratiOn of s' Dear mel
 found there not only Arabella and her aunt, but another passenger-a mid-.a dle-aged gentleman (but old in myeyes), who would have made very nice com- panion for the latter, if could only have