The true northerner., 1897-01-20

tlan littls fsolish Gir>atAon hstwssn ths.
young lady and myself He seized The
girl's hand, tucked IL under his arm and
marched of.
'As for having an opportunity OF meet
Ing her again will take precious good
care that you dor't" he threw at me over
his shoulder
Alas, there could be little doubt Of I'll
And the letter. | had no doubt that 10
was note to her lover. 1t seemed just a
little hard that, anxious as l was to serve
her. this should be the particular service
required OF me.
At the first pillar box came to took
ont the missive she had given me. 1t was
her programme for the evening, IA dainty
card, folded boolSwise and secured at the
edges by number of postage stamps stuck
all around It, IL was stamped with penny
stamp and addressed i'm pencil OF course
l had no business TO read the address /
knew that we'll enough. 1t was perhaps an
ungentlemanly thing TO do; but, then, my
curiosity was greatly excited. l hoped that
the name penciled on the back of the pro
gramme might be that of a woman But
l was disappointed. by the light of gas
lamp read
Immediate. Arthur Bellingham, Esq.
- Furnival's Inn. Holborn, f. c.
Bellingham? Bellinghamg / seemed To
| know the name. For minute or two /
| stood trying 10 remember whom it was l
had once met that owned il, but I'm vain
What did Ii matter? The affair was at an
| end dropped the queer letter into the
| letter box and went home TO my lodgings
A few months later was strolling along
| Oxford street heard my name called out,
| and looking up | saw Arthur Bellingham
standing before me. | recognized him at
once--a young engineer whom had met
| once i'm country inn on a wet day in the
Lake district We had been capital friends
| for a week, and / could not understand
how had forgotten him when had tried
| to remember what Bellingham l had
known.
We greeted each other warmly, and he
would have me go with him TO his cham
| bers in Furnivafs inn and smoke a cigar
with him.
"Bellingham, said as I stood on his
hearth rug did 1t ever happen that you
| received a letter written on ball pro-
gramme?"
His eyes and mouth opened In pure as
| tonishment.
What do you know about thats'' he
| calculated.
II ought not to have known anything
about 1t, but plead guilty to having read
the address Iposted the programme to-
you one night on my way home from a
ball
My friend sprang up and wrung my
| hand as IL he would wiring Ii off,
"My dear fellow" he cried, II am in
fnitely Obliged to you for your tact and
/ L md hat acin haA
posted that note il would have meant ruin
to me- Maud told me how awfully good
| you were about it.
Maud? DO you mean
Maud my sister-the girl who slipped
the note into your hand. ="
'Is she your sister,"
Certainly she Is. It's rather an un-
common story. Shall tell it to your"
If you don't mind l confess 1 am
| burning with curiosity" 4"
THE fact is, then, that some three years
| ago my poor mother, who was widow,
| did what turned out to be a very foolish
| thing-she married again, and married
without making proper inquiries My
| stepfather, Mr.. Maddox, turned out to be
| n very bad egg. My mother lost the great
| er part of her fortune when she married
| him, and we were for time practically
| dependent on my mothers uncle an eccen-
trio old gentleman, rather fond OF money
called Hodgkinson
| Maddox is neither more nor less than
an advcnturer, and for n long time it was
| the main business of his life to exploit my
| greatuncle At last he nearly succeeded
| Maddox and some friends of his got hold
of bit Of land in South Africa, which
| they wanted To sell as a gold mine. /
don't believe there was an ounce of gold
on the premises But my greatuncle said
that he would buy il at the high figure
they asked for it if would go out and see
it and send him a private telegram advis-
| ing him that the gold was there i'm paying
| quantities.
"Of course was ready to go, and was
| to have sailed the very morning after the
night of the ball that you and Maud at
tended
! We'll, Maud happened TO be i'm the con-
servatory attached to- the ballroom when
she overheard two men talking rather in
discreetly She was standing behind some
| Towering shrubs and heard every word
they said:
''The two men were Mr.. Maddox and
| one Of his associates, and she heard enough
to make her understand that the thing was
/ u Irauu, ana tnaC L was 10 Do made the
means of their swindling Uncle Jonas on
largo scale. l believe tho plan was that
they should send false telegram to the old
man in my name days before could even
see the pretended mine One thing know
If the thing had come off, Uncle Jonas
would never have forgiven me. He would
have believed to his dying day that had
been squared. You may imagine what a
state Maud was In. She''--
The door opened and Maud herself
walked Into the room.
1t seemed that her stepfather had treated
her 81 harshly on account OF her having
spoiled his schemes that she had been
forced TO leave his house and take refuge
| with her brother
For some time the old man refused to
believe that the reason Arthur gave for
not going to South Africa was the true
reason, but in time he came round, and
both brother and si' Vr are now n good
,leal at his house. Athere occasionally
myself, which Is not surprising, as Maud
and have been engaged for the last six
weeks s-Cassells Journal.
Some Odd Expe per,ments With Insects.
Sir John Tubbock Ia N British natur uralist