The times., 1897-05-23
PART IL.

Trigonometry, Jones '.LcsarIthms, Der
tholIet's Chemical States and Newton
"Optics" were representative volumes OF
what was lightest and most fanciiGl
and romantic III this severe and unin-
teresting collection. There was Moth
ing there with poetry or fiction or his
tory. Neither cid ! after ward iind any
thing at al Of that nature in any part OF
the house While Miranda, who had IN
vested herself with the whitest OF aprons,
was bilsily engaged in the Kitchen, or was
fitting in and cut OF tie breakfast room,
the personification OF a rlfty ard pretty
housewife, | employed myself 10 glanclng
over the pages of these wildly excluns
tones i took down venerable looking
dictionary and opening it found thatlt was
pr johnson 5 and that it had been pun
Ished ia the last pant Of the elghteenth
century.
l Immediately noticed something very
remarkable about it. Every few pages L
would come across black oblong impress
in printers ink, which completely oillter-
sted the particular word over which 1t had
been stamped Many OF these words; for
instance, courtship, bethrothal, wedding,
marriage, love, sweetheart, husband, pro-
poSal and engagement, was enatieo TO
guess by the context, and / almost imne-
diateIy came to the conclusion that the
author of this wonderfully painstaking
and lahorious work had been the man
hnting mother of Miranda All things
which had up TO this time discovered made
il seem probable, that, having had some
dreadfu!ly cruel experience with the
Hemer sex, she had caused the cottage
to lie built in this impFegnable hiding
place, and had here retired with her only
child, that she might bring her up in total
ignorance of love and marriage, and with
absolutely no knowledge whatever OF the
male human being. Astothe disappearance
orthe mother tthe time Miranda WAS four
teen years of age, could form no other
theory than that she had walked off the
cliff, in the darkness of night, either in
tcntionally or accidentally.
My agreeable young hostess now ap-
peared and announced breakfast, and fol-
lowing her to the table, was most de
lightfully amazed at the provision she had
made Who would not have teen taken
aback to see served up to him, upon a desert
island fresh Strawberries, an oInelette
rEspagnUl and a bIoiled niackereR She
had caught thcfish the day before, fromthe
very rock upon which | bad first landed.
She also informe 1that she had shot acanTas
back duck. and that We were TO have it
stuffed with truffles, together With some
soft shell crabs, at dinner.
| was intensely interested, as may he
supposed, in finding out by what mys-
terious uueaus She had provided certain very
ordinary and useful table IuxuTies. 1
asked her, for instance, how she came hy
the butter
ut floated in one day last week. said
she, in a matter of course sort Of way.
1T rloa;ed in!'' ! exclaimed. How
noateI in?"
why, it floated into the cove, the fis-
sure where 1 found you this morning
There is a very nice, large tub Of it
Is there anything extraordinary in that?
Scarcely a day passes, but something
comes floating in. Last week it was
cheese The week before, barrel of
lamp oil I'm scarcely ever n want II
ANYTHING that it does not come drifting in
before the week is out. Every morning l
go to the head Of the inlet or gorge TO see
what has cone in during the night. This
morning went there, as usual, and found
you
And l suppose you were very much
disappointed at not finding what you
wanted SBy the way, what particular
thing were you in want OF when you
went TO look this morning.
~ was in want of a box Of soap, but
/ scarcely expected to find it, About a
wear ago there came drifting in the
chest of ships officer, and it was
thus ihat 1 obtained my sextant, my
maps and nv nautical almanac. and tables
in hrV
or trunk, containing articles Of female
wearing apparel welcomed it, OF course,
with considerable delight, but l found
very few of the things which pleased me to
wear, and many OF them | absolutely
knew not the use of. -
She left the room, but was back again
in a moment carrying a large map or
chart, which she unrolled upon the table
in front OF me.
'.This." said she, 'is a map of the
;--orld, according TO Mercator's projection.
The representation of areas within 20
degrees OF the equator is exceedingly ac-
curate: but you know very well that as
we go north or south of this parallel, the
always parallel medirians, together with
the peculiar progression in the width Of
the areas between the parallels produce
finally becomes infinite. SO that with this
scheme of Mercator we could never get
TO the poles Thisis why, we being at this
moment in latitude 40 and longitude about
81 west, the Islandof Corvo does not appear
upon the chart in exactly that position. r"
She placed one small hand lightly upon
my shoulder, and, leaning over. pointed
with the index finger of the other at
the small dots upon the map which repre-
sented the Azores.
You understand me, of course?" said
she
Certainly" said I.
My brain was in a whirl trying to
fathoiu her explanations. of which / I'M
derstoOd not one iota. ], however, did not
propose TO let it appear that was eciipsed
in learning by this fair savage. To tell the
truth. also. | was more taken up with her
sweet self than L W as with projections, S, and
parallels and representations, and as L
felt her fragrant breath upon my cheek
and the soft impress of her rounded ann
and shapely hand upon my shoulder, L
knew that l should be content to hear her
expound the matter for the rest OF the
day.
We now went out and explored the whole
length and breadth OF her diininutiye king
dom, she doing the honors like the queen
OF it that she was, and pointing out to my
admiring gaze each point of beauty andin-
terest. As me stood in the vegetable gar
den between row of onions and another
OF celery, | saw that she was regarding
my face with a rapt and speculative eX-
preston.