Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-06-28

OF course the brothers said no more
but upon seeing Beatrice they men,
toned the matter 10 her. yes" she
said, Il told her she might go for the
day"
The Talberts we're too polite to
blame Beatrice in words, but a slight
elevation of -four eyebrows showed their
owners discomfort. Beatrice, in giving
a servant a holiday, had taken a
liberty.
Where has she gomez" asked Her
bert, who liked to know that his SER
wants were spending their time prop
erly.
$50 London, l suppose" said lea
trice, carelessly.
Now the way in which Mrs. Miller
spent her holiday was rs follows:
She rose at an early boar and walked
from ba'lewood House to the cross
roads. Here sh, waited until the lum.
berlng old fashioned bus came in sight.
time deposited rt the lacktown
station. At blacktown she took the
train to Weymouth which fashionable
watcr-place he reached about elo,en
o'clock.
1t was, however. clear that she had
not come here TO oujoy a stay at the
seaside. InsteId of going at once to
the gay esplanade, she sought the
sh d of the general waiting-room-
her she remained an hour
She then embarked in another train;
one that ran on Il single line of railway
ran nearly the whole of its way with
the sea on one side and 4 nigh Y hill
OF smooth, rounded pebbles. known as
the Chesil Beach, on the other, white
in front of it doomed tall, serrated,
precipitous cliffs, ut the foot of VIII oh
was its destination.
Mrs. Miller paid no attention to the
natural scenery of the place. She
stepped from the train and walked ont
OF the little station in q m~ethOdical.
business-like way. 1t was evident that
the woman had not come so far on q
mere pleasure-iaunt.
She drove a bargain after the man.
ner of her kind, then took her seat in
one of the dusty vehicles. She was
driven through the little gray town
| which lies at the foot of. anu stretches
a long way up the hill. The horse
toiled up the steep street; or and on
until the occupant OF the cab looked
down on the tops of the houses which
she had ust passed. Then a turn, and
II bit of level ground, another turn and
a steep hill; so on and on in a ZigZag
course until the table land which lies at
the top of Portland Island was some
how reached, an event which must
have been grateful alike to the horse
and to the occupant of the cab, suppos-
ing the latter only possessed of nerves
of ordinary strength aud therefore apt
to rebel against being drawn up a h II
as steep AS the side of a house.
Some time before the cab reached .he
top of the ellis it had at intervals
passed gangs of men working b. the
roadside At a distance these men
looked little different from ordinary
~navvies, but a closer inspection showed
that the garments of most OF them con-
sisted of a dark yellow jersey covered
by a sleeveless jacket of light fust an or
some such material. This jacket,
moreover, was stamped in various
places with the government broad
arrow. Every man wore CATERS and a
curiously shaped cap, under which no
hair was visible. Occasionally one
hll0ub Dt Sttu tlO LlONcN WIFI Il CcI-
tain stiffness in his gait, as if something
which he would willingly have dis
pensed with restrained the natural
elasticity of his lower limbs. Here
AMI there the monotony OF the attire
wa broken by the appearance of some
who were dressed in blue instead OF
| yellow; but taken altogether the dress,
if comfortable and enduring, was
scarcely one which n man being a free
agent would choose for himself.
The gangs which Mrs. Miller passed
on the roadside were for the most part
engaged in handing Jumps of turf from
man to man They performed these
duties in a ~listless perfunctory nan
ner although standing on the hillside
above every band of workers, were
two men in long dark coats with the
shining buttons of authority, and each
of these men held a rifle with / xed
bayonet.
Further away in the quarries could
be seen many other such gangs, dig
ging, delving, hauling, wheeling
barrows, and performing other opera
tons needful for extracting the famed
Portland stone from the ground.
after passing various sentries and
driving for some distance along the
level ground, Mrs. Miller's cab reached
a beautiful, tall, buttressed wall; skirt
ing this it turned at right angles and
very soon drew up before an imposing
entrance built of gray stone, and bear
ing over the archway the royal arms of
England. This was the entrance TO
her majesty's rison of Portland.
In front of it. across the road,
stretched the governors garden, still
brilliant with flowers, and looking like
a glorious oasis in the midst of a barren
land. A man who in the discharge of
his duties has to live on the top of
Portland 'sland wants a garden or
something of that sort Without it the
m%onotony of the place would drive h m
mad
ut Nrs. Miller did not even look at
the gay beds She dismounted, and
after telling the cabman to wait for her
walked boldly through the prison-gate.
She was Immediately accosted by a
portly, good-tempered looking j%anitor,
whose gold-laced cap spoke OF superior
ota pdi 20 uoharad har into n l;,tla