The Irish standard., 1892-10-15

~ l892 A'lWt9x.ls'te'
alluded to her mother. Perhaps her
mother was dead-had died in her child's
infancy. Perhaps the silence concern
ing her arose from some other and less
allowable cause; there might be some
matrimonial disgrace or tragedy at the
bottom of the fathers and daughters re
serve The idea had a certain plausible
ity. and yet found it unsatisfactory.
The true explanation of the mystery
might not be worse than this, but fan
cied it must be different-it must be
something more unusual and strange.
This is an unexpected pleasure said
l, for the sake of saying something, as
we descended the steps down the river
embankment to the ferryboat
1.-The world is not so large place as
people pretend" replied MIR. Birchmore.
EtHave you been long in Dresden?
| "A week or SO. I've been doing the
heighborhood and was told that Saxon
Switzerland must not be left out Of the
list came near going by the boat
(Here suddenly recollected that if Mr..
,Birchmore had gone by boat, as his
daughter said he had, his presence in
Schandau before us was wholly inexpi-
cable) "How did you manage to get
here SO quickly?'' | exclaimed: ''the
steamer can't be due for three hours
yeti"
He looked at me in apparent perpie1-
iy. and Miss Birchmore, too. seemed
I ~. ~. ~.
establishment. There was pause of a
few moments; then she said, in a low.
hurried tone:
''You know, papa, got word that from
some misunderstanding you had taken
the steamer instead Of the train
'sAh, to be sure,' he rejoined with a
short laugh. II see the difficulty. You
must look upon me, suppose, as a sort
of magician, able to transport myself
about the country on some new tele-
graphic principle. Well, I'm afraid |
can't lay claim to any such supernatural
power. l shall lose credit by the expla-
nation, but you shall have it neverthe-
less"
"No, no; give us room for the exer~
else Of our imagination" cried l, laugh
ing. The fact was felt as if my query
had been in some way unfortunate.
There was certain effort in Mr.. Birch
mores manner and want Of sponta-
neity in his laugh, and the awkwardness
seemed shared to some extent by his
daughter. In my ignorance of the true
lay of the land was continually MAX
ing some irritating blunder, and the
} more tried to make myself agreeable
the worse was my success.
I Mr.. Birchmore, Notwithstanding that
deprecated it.. chose to make his ex-
PLANTATION Kate was right" said he.
'sMy first intention was to go by train.
Afterward | decided on the boat, and
left the hotel with the purpose of get.
ting our passage that way and sending
Kate word to meet me at the landing.
But the boat turned out to be SC crowded
that changed my mind again. 1t was
then so late that hadn't time to reach
the Central railway station My only
chance of catching the train was t..
jump into 2 drosky at the steamboat
landing and drive as the 'kutscher
never drove before for the lower sta
ton, which was half mile nearer.
got there barely in time, and Kate, it
seems, was waiting at the Central all the
while!'
'And Of course, added Miss Birch
more eagerly. 1.-The people at the hote]
fancied that he had gone by the boat
and sent me word. Oh, yes, under
stand it all now-don't you. Mr.. Gains
borough"
II don't take it kindly Of your father
to strip away the illusions from life sc
pitilessly,' returned in humorous
tone; II should have been much happier
in believing that he had flown through
the air on the Arabian kings wishing
carpet" This sally suf6ced to raise the
smile of which we all seemed SO greatly
in want, and so we got into the ferry
boat in comparatively easy frame Of
mind.
The valet to whom have already al
luded sat on thwart near the bows ii
such position that had full view Of
him. A more unconciliating object
have seldom beheld. His body and arms
were long, but his legs We're short and
bowed outward. His features were
harsh, forbidding and strongly marked
but there was an expression of power
stamped upon them which fascinated
my gaze in spite of the ugliness which
would otherwise have made me glad tc
look away. It was not the power Of in
tellect, for, although there was plenty
of saturnine kind Of intelligence in the
countenance, it was not to be supposed
that fellow in his position Of life would
be remarkable for brains. No; this
power was, Of another kind. l do not
know how to describe it, but believe
some people would get out of the diff.
Guilty by calling it magnetic.
Whatever it was it produced a very
disagreeable impression on me, and
could not but wonder that Mr.. Birch.
more should have chosen to take such q
creature into his employ. | had the
sense, however. on this occasion to keep
my speculations to myself; was re.
solved not to make fool of myself again
:f COLD l,o1,, of 1nocf not with this