The record-union., 1891-06-06

that awaited him at the Three Friars-
the CLEAN of the earth, the CLEAN of the
wine!
In this mood he kept his way until he
reached the Strand, when, in approach
ing theater there of many associations,
he noticed a well-appointed carriage and
pair, with a familiar crest on its panels,
drawing up a few yards in front of him.
All, well he knew! There rode the one
woman for whom, as much as for any
thing under the sun, he had sold his
poets birthright. Silvia She it was, in
truth, who had first turned him into
those pleasant byways of the world, es-
saying which he had lost both what they
seemed to promise, and what his boyish
ideas had before her coming shown to
him. How well he remembered it all
her grace and beauty, her kind mysteri-
Gus eyes, with that quick seductive
glance, the sweet red of her lips, the curve
of her cheeks, the coil of her dark hair,
the fragrance of her whole presence! All,
heavens! what had he lost?
AS the carriage stopped, and he saw the
pompous footman diSmount to open the
carriage door, Julius turned away, think
ing of his own dingy coat and hat. But
then, remembering that not even the
best friend of the other Julius Roy of ten
years ago, not even Silvia herself, could
recognize him now-bearded, unkempt,
beaten out of shape and dignity by long
misfortune and to-nighpS storm-he was
suddenly led to turn back. He reached
the carriage just as she stepped out,
draped still, as it seemed to him, in the
same soft exquisite way in which of old
used to so charm his eyes. At this
glimpse of the paradise of old, seen from
the inferno to which he had fallen, he
pulled his hat further over his brows, and
then, moved by some uuaccountable i'm
pulse, thrust out involuntarily a tremb-
ling hand. She saw-quick as ever to
see, darting the old inscrutable glance of
her dark eyes toward him, and seeming
in that glance to read all. So, hardly
pausing, swift as thought, she drew a
crimson flower from the recesSeS OF the
soft Silken shawl that draped the bosom,
and, dropping it into his outstretched
hand, was gone. There he still stood
overwhelmed, trembling at the last coin
cidence of fate; and then, looking at the
flower in his hand, he rallied himself and
passed on.
AS he went it seemed to him that a
thrill Of life passed in to his chilled veins
from the rare and perfect blossom that
he carried. Ere he had gone far the stim-
illus of the whole episode had so wrought
upon him that he quite forgot his sur
roundings and began to sing aloud on his
way, so as to amuse not little the pass
ers in the street. His voice had still
something of its youthful freshness left,
however, ana sounded pleasantly enough
above the Saturday nights noises, SO
that an unfortunate girl, against whom
he brushed in his preoccupation, half
changed with startling effect the un-
womanly oath that was springing to her
lips for the blessing of the Virgin Mary:
1.-THE Holy Virgin save your black soul
this very night!'
But this again recalled him to a sense
of his surroundings. He stopped sing
ing, and looking back at the utterer of
such profane benedictions returned a
step, and gave her what small money
he had had from the bookseller earlier
in the evening. A few moments more
and he had reached the retired court
IN Fleet street which leads to the Three
Friars.