The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-01-22

N"I'm in the blues, Jock"
$50 / see sir"
"Confound ii, man, don't treat me
Ike that, as if your eyes would drop
out of your head!" cried his master,
noting suddenly the fixity of the gaze
which the old keeper had fastened upon
him. Its not a matter of life or death
But-but I've lost the first prize at
the cattle show for my short-horns--
had il carried off under my very nose
by n miserable Southron who All,
well, if il had been n fair award /
shouldn't have minded. But mine were
the best Everybody on the ground
who knew a cow from n custard cup
said SO. 1t was unfair, absolutely un-
fair"
And Sir Alexander, whose short
horns were to him as the breath of his
nostrils, and who prided himself on
being the most successful breeder in
the kingdom, got up from his chair
and began to pace up and down the
stone-fagged floor.
"Short-hornsl" calculated Jock, with
an odd infection; and then after
pause he said again, in Illuminating
tone: "Short-hornsl Oh-aye!"
whats the matter with you?" asked
Sir Alexander, irritably, noticing pc
culiarity in tie old mans tone.
"Naething, naething, sir" answered
the old fellow, dryly. II was thinking
yer trouble was maybe about a differ
cnt sort o. cattle, that's a, sir"
And before his master could ask him
another question Jock had disappeared
through the back door of the hut on
his way to the cottage.
Sir Alexander was half inclined to go
after him and insist upon an explana-
ton of his mysterious words and man
ner. But, rejecting that it was only
some whim of Jocks, he changed his
mind and gave himself up again to the
wrathful meditations which had occu-
pied him ever since the judges decision
at the show.
He had been wounded in the most
perhaps the only--vulncrable part.
For his short-horns he neglected So
ciety, his duties as a landlord, his
dYvtes as husband. Three years be-
fore he had married a young beauty
temporarily fascinated by freshness
and charm which did not, in the long
run, outweigh the solid attractions of
his prize cattle.
Sir Alexander now left Lady Auch-
lean chiefly to her own devices, and
never doubted that, in providing her
with house In Dover street and man
sion in the highlands, as well as hand
some allowance of pocket money, he
had done as much for her as a woman
had right to expect.
And il was safe TO say that no one in
the whole world was further from his
thoughts than his wife was when Jock
came to tell him that the cottage was
ready, and the baronet, beginning to
feel rather tired and stiff after the
Journey and the excitement of the day,
entered the long, narrow room which
had been made by throwing the living
rooms of the two cottages into one,
and threw himself on the chintz-cov-
cred couch a little way from the fire.
You came straight into this room
from the open air, without any sort of
passage or anteroom; so screen had
been placed round the door to keep the
draught out. The sofa on which Sir
Alexander lay was between this screen
and the fire, right under the latticed
window, the curtains OF which were
not drawn.
Don't light up yet, my eyes ache"
cried he. as Jock was preparing to light
u couple of candles.
"Vara weel. sir"
Jock was less cantankerous, but
more taciturn than usual that evening,
his master thought, as he watched him
out and then overcome by the drowsi-
ness induced by fatigue and comfort
and warmth, he closed his eyes and fell
Into sort of doze.
lie was presently aroused by the
sharp click of the latch as il was bur-
riedly raised, and, opening his eyes with
a start, he jumped up just as womnn's
voice whispered at the other side OF the
screen, this one word:
"Harryi"
And he recognized the voice rs that
of his wife.
Startling. absolutely unexpected as
this incident was, Sir Alexander real
ICED in q moment what IL meant, and
even knew, who the person was she he-
lieved herself TO be addressing.
Acertain handsome, but impecunious
young soldier. Capt. Tenterden. TO
whom she had scarcely been allowed
10 speak in her maiden days. had be-
come since her marriage, the tame cat
Of the household, desplsed 10y the hus-
band as a mere triiler, and apparently
looked upon by the wife only as a Ipn-
ner of errands, and tlller-up OF gaps at
the dinncr-table.
Ia an instant the truth flashed upon
Sir Alexander, and ~ the same mo-
ment, or only little later, the signi-
icancc OF jocks cnigmatic looks and
words burst upon him.
Capt. Tenterdsn was his wife's lover,
this was the guilty meeting place.
Even in the FIRST moment OF the un-
speakable horror. perhaps petrihed by