The morning times., 1895-12-28

He was a very lonely gent. wondertuHy
| lonely. and during the ten years she had
known him she had never seen MN Win
friend No visitors came TO MS roofn'
and even letters were rare. He led quiet
orderly life. with money always ready LOT
reasonable comforts, and was ever kihd
and plea sani spoken to herself ana her
+, daughter When sherrouud him lying there
So s,ln and awful il gave her quite turn,
and she was too mu ch Hurried TO think
what could have happened. Perhaps the
doctor was right in thinking he must nave
faileu from the narrow ladder leaning
against the book shelves and struck his
head On the fender. Such a thing had never
happened before. in all The time she had
been in the inn and she could rcmenber--
DIR. Pitcher quietly checked the reminis-
cent flow and FASTENED TO place nurse III
charge. He was ssatlstiedthattheacc accident
as he was cert ain il had been--couid have
but one ending. There are few threads IN
the tangled skein of London life that run
their length smoothly enough to enable any
stranger to pick up any part and trace its
history and DR.. Pitcher was too accustomed
TO the knots, the sudden entanglements, the
confusing influence of intruding threads, to
expect to carry far his Investigations into
the aDtecedeDts of an unknown patient. The
man was of the intellectual type, the good
forehead, long. well-shapei nose, could be-
long 10 no stunted mind. His books, if some
what incogruous, revealed literary appre-
citation: the watercolors on the walls and
the china about the room, argued taste;
crucifix at the bedstead suggested relig-
ious temperament, which the doctor, judg-
ing from the general surroundings, sufnised
10 be inpressional rather than dev otional.
on the writing table he found a letter from
a firm of solicitors ackDo wledging the re-
ceipt of Instructions and promising lest
aff .ic l,a rNrrf inf
Standing by itself in an old Oxford frame
was little, half-faded photograph OF girl
In the evening dress Of the early '1Os.
The enormous skirt, with two or three huge
bows down the center, the puffy sleeves
fastened at intervals with bands of ribbon
and closing tightly around the wrists, the
fun. square-cut bodice and loose pile of hair
controlled by single strip of velvet. were
ali strange to eyes accustomed to later
modes, but no enormities Ofdress could dim
the vivid, well.ngh wicked beauty in the
girls face. A black velvet band with little
gold cross hung low On her bosom, and
heavy ornaments pierced her dainty ears,
but had her face been smeared with the
fantastic adornments of Polynesian
beauty, had her teeth been blackcned and
her lips run through with bones, she would
still have been triumphant in loveliness,
and the trying fashion OF twenty five
years back was impoteDt against her charms
even when judged Ny modern standards.
Her smart, pert face, with its dainty
cheeks and daring eyes, was as real in
this faded photograph as the frank charms
OF honest Mistress Nellie in the canvases
OF Sir Peter Lely are to us today. The
doctor examined the portrait for q moment
and peered at the dim name written across
it. smiling tOlerantly asthe wear nd tastes
OF earlier days came back to his mind,
while the woman Id tho armchair watched
him with tired eyes. The heavy, ster-