, 1889-08-08

was another ring. 1t was an accumulated
ring, not prolonged.
"See here. It's no use. You are try
ing to shield this man Duff. He lives
here. / saw him. He did not deny 1t.
l am a-coming in"
"A-comin' in, are We? Divil a bit. Not
while there's n dhrop of blud to deind
me masther and misthress, sor. It's wio-
lence yer up to, wild yer old carrion
carcass. Now just you put out of
this. No! Oh won't give We the shafts
facshun of knowing, sor, who lives here,
only his name isn't Pater Duff. What
are ye after, anyways, a-hintrodusin'
yourself into n g~entleman's risidence?"
HE shall feel the power of the law"
/ knew l was doomed now. The hero
ism Of that poor girl could avail me no
longer Convicted forger, murderer, de
~faulter, swindler, 1 must make a clean
breast of it.
Then 1 heard what sounded like n
splash of water-just that swis-s-sh which
individually follows the flying out Cby
centrifugal force) of the contents OF a
tub. l had the courage to look u of
the window. saw a soaking Nemesis.
1t ran across the street. Something re-
sembling a broom was projected after it.
A street a came, n a dripping man
shook his fist at the house and then dis
appeared.
Folk lore, as Mr.. Andrew Lang informs
us, tells owe and over again of the re-
generation of the man brought about by
the means of a little water. This crystal
Hui1 tho nharfra. ~ orN; a,Al,,-Aaaa
las the case may be) invariably holds in
the palm of her hand. Bella had broken
the spell with a tubful.
My identity came back to me with a
rush. l was no longer Peter Duff. 1t is
possible that, having read too much po-
litical economy and psychology, there
had been n spell of mental confusion,
with ~obliteration of the Ego. And yet l
felt sorry for Duff-the same kind of pity
n sincere Scotchman expressed for "the
Old Diel."
lam not yet quite positive as to whether
or not, sometime or other, a Peter Duff
had not killed an assertive person-not
necessarily a collector or house agent
and that the ghost of the murdered man
still wanders around. l might nave read
of a mysterious disappearance, conjured
up a flying Dutchman of a collector, who,
having sworn a terrible oath to get a pay
ment and failing, still stalks the world.
Said my wife to me that evening:
Dear, 1 am SO glad you are quite your
self again, and have made up your mind
to take n holiday. You were getting dis
tressingly morbid. AS you say you will
do no work for a week, Bella proposes a
thorough overhauling of your study; and
what a good and faithful creature she is,
and anticipates all our wishesi"
"a paragon" 1 replied, expansively.
eff she has a fault, it is a certain
acerhity shown to strangers, especially
on scrubbing days. Sometimes 1 am
afraid she is a trifle too v~ivacious."
"Is she 2" 1 asked, innocently.
at is too absurd" continued my wife.
"There was a horrid looking man here
today, who showed such persistence
about something or other that Bella lost
her temper, and she threw something at
the man. 1 must tell her to be more
careful"
my love, pray say not a word to Bella,
at least on this occasion. She was acting
Perseus to my A~ndromeda."
"But Perseus was a man.
$50 he was. 1 reverse the roles, that's
ALL"
"Well, dear, 1 never did pretend to
follow you in your NEUROLOGICAL allu-
ions.'-Barnet Phillips in Harper's
Weekly.