The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1882-04-06

mad not yet given up all nope. very
likely he had meant to renounce he
forever when he left Cannes; bu
upon more deliberate reflection be
may have found that it was in hi
heart to forgive her, and may alsC
have argued, from what we knew OF
her character, hat she would be SURF
to want him back as soon as he wa:
well out of reach.
We had more than a week Of mag.
nifcent warm days and clear frosty
nights; but then the weather sud
denly changed, and the rain began to
come down as it only knows how t.
come down in the mountains Neither
Percival nor [ wanted to give the
thing up without having fired single
shot at "a bear; but we could not MAI
age to keep the water out of our tent
and there was no other shelter within
reach, except wretched little hut
about four feet high, used in summer
by the Spanish shepherds, so we
agreed to take advantage of this op-
portunity to cross over into France
and get newspapers and letters.
We had long, toilsome trudge
across the snow, and did not reach
Luchon until it was too late to think
of anything but bed; but the next
day we went to the post-office, where
IL large bundle Of letters was delivered
to each of us. Percival glanced has
tily at his, and then flung them down
with a muttered oath. Obviously he
was disappointed for some reason or
other; but it did not occur to me until
afterwards that he might have cher
ished wild hope of finding IA COM
munication from Florry among them.
was more favored. My budget con-
tanned two letters bearing the Cannes
post-mark, and the first of these |
Read aloud to Percival as we walked
away-not on account of it's intrinsic
interest, which was small, hut because
thought it us wei to lose no occa-
sion of convincing him that my rela-
tions with Florry were of most cor
rect and cou>inly kind. But when |
proceeded to open the second | WAS
obliged to be seizrd with terrific fit
Of coughing, for the very first words
that caught my eye were, You may
congratulate me. if you like. on my
engagement to Mr.. Lacy" Here was
nice piece of business! | stuffed the
fatal mi>sive. into my pocket, and
slippfd away AS soon As could to fin
iSh it in private. There was no mis-
take about it. The horrid little wo-
man had really. gone and engaged her
self to Lacy, and. with her usual want
of consideration, had left me- the agree
able task of announcing the news to
Percival. Love to Carrots" she
added in a postscript. II hope he is
enjoying himself, and that he won't
receive too warm hug from one Of
his kindred bears"
| haven't the least doubt that when
she wrote those words there was a
malicious grin on her face, and that
she f1atterpd herself that she had paid
Carrots off that time. But if she
imagined that l should carry this
ppistolary slap in the face to it's d-s-
tination. she was sadly mistaken in
me. No. indeed" | thought; Il am
not going to expose myself to the
risk of beng eaten up alive to please
anybody" and determined that Per-
cival's sport should not be spoit by
any unwelcome communication from
me.
The unlucky part of it was that I
had aroused his suspicious by letting
him hear the contents of the first
letter, and stopping so suddenly upon
the point of reading him the econd;
and all that day and the next, when
he set out to return to our encamp-
ment. he went on b0thering me about
it. What h d Miss Neville said in
that other letter of hers? Why was
I so confoundealy mysterious? Had
she mentioned him ?-and so forth
could only return feeble and evasivp
replies, which Of course did not satisfy
him. He tried wheedling me- and h.
tried bullying me. bnt he might Just
as well have talked to stone
wall. The &c ut. rrso'vtd should
only be dragged from me with my
life; and at last he gave it up. and
snbsided into state of silent and sub
lnnd fprncitv which made me exceed
Bnt when we reached our camp
there was good news for MS; and Pr
civ | came came out of the sulks on
bearing that thn tracks Of whole
hear familv-fathpr. mo her. and two
cnbs-had been seen on the freshly
f4llpn snow not couple of miles
away. The gnidPs had already ar
ranged our plan of action for the
morrow. and pretended. as those fell
lows always do. TO he so intimately
acquainted with the habits of bears in
general as to know to nicafy what
their programme wnuld be roo. Pa
terfamilias. we were informed. wonld
start with the break Of dav for tn"
highar pastures above the village Of
FL Plan. whittier some Spanish shep-
herds wprn known to have taken their
Aorks. The mother and. cubs would
probably remain either among or
ahovp the pine woods which clothed
the southern side of our valley. Now
if the south wind held. what we had
TO DO was simnla enouoh. We had
only to mount the opposite slopes to-
wards he spot where the tracks had
been seen, and there was little danger
of our mounting so high as to place
ourselves between the wind and our
game. IT. was further considered ad-
visable that we should separate into
two parties. ono Of which should have
for its object the destruction of Mr.
Rruin while the other should account
for Mrs r and the children This
arrangements was not agreed TO with
ont some discussion and alternative
Suggestions. for Pnrcival always hated
Fo do as he was told: Init it. was one
finally adopted: and when thn morn
! In nr hrolro rnfk nnd nlnnHu with q Enh I