The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1898-04-29

\ Seieoratlon OF the departure of an Arc
VIC expedition from their port. The
ships OF the expedition are two in num-
oer-the Wanderer and the Sea-Mew.
lney are to sail Tin search Of the
northwest Passage) on the next day,
with the morning tide.
donor to the Mayor and Corporation!
II is brilliant ball. The band is COM
piete. The room is spacious. The
large conservatory opening out of 1t is
pleasantly lit with Chinese lanterns
ana beautifully decorated with shrubs
ana howers. All officers of the army
ana navy who are present wear .heir
uniforms in honor of the occasion.
Among the ladies the display of dresses
s "a subject which the men don't un-
derstand) is bewildering, and the aver
age OF beauty "a subject which the men
DO understand) is the highest average
ettalnable in all parts of the room.
For the moment the dance which is
IN progress is quadrille. General ad-
mlratlon selects two of the ladies who
are dancing as its favorte objects.
one is a dark beauty in the prime of
womanhood-th wife of First Lieu
tenant Crawford, of the Wanderer. The
other is young girl, pale and delicate,
dressed simply in white, with no orna-
ment on her head but her own lovely
Drown hair. This is Miss Clara Burn
aam-an orphan. She is Mrs. Cray
lords dearest friend, and she is to stay
with Mrs Crawford during the Licuten-
( ants absence in the Arctic regions
She is now dancing, with the Licuten
ant himself for partner, and with Mrs
I crawford and Captain Helding Com
manding Officer of the Wanderer) for
vis-a-vis-in plain English, for oppo-
site couple
4 The conversation between Captain
Helding and Mrs. Crawford, in one of
the intervals of the dance, turns on
Miss Burnham. The Captain is greatly
interested in Clara. He admires her
beauty, but he thinks her manner. for
young girl, strangely serious and sub
dued. Is she in delicate healtho
Mrs. Crawford shakes her head, signs
mysteriously, and answers:
"In very delicate health, Captain
Helding"
"Consumptive?"
ttNot in the least
II am glad to hear that. She is a
charming creature, Mrs. Crawford. She
interests me indescribably If was
only twenty years younger-perhaps
Gas l am not twenty years younger) 1
had better not finish the sentence? Is
1t indiscreet. my dear lady, to inquire
what is the matter with herr"
1T might be indiscreet on the Dart
of stranger" said Mrs. Crawford. IAN
old friend like you may make any in
quiries. 1 wish 1 could tell you what
is the matter with Clara. 1t is mys-
terry to the doctors themselves. Some
OF the mischief is due, in my humble
opinion, to the manner in which she
has been brought up"
aye! aye! A bad school, I SUD-
pose?"
very bad, Captain Helding. But
not the sort of school which you have
In mind at this moment Clara's early
years were spent in lonely old house
In the Highlands of Scotland. The ig-
norant people about her were the peo-
pie who did the mischief which | have
Just been speaking Of They filled her
mind with the superstitions which are
still respected as truths-especially the
superstition called the Second Sight"
God bless me" cried the Captain,
you don't mean to say she believes
+ in such stuff as that? In these en-
ightened times, too.'
Mrs. Crawford looked at her partner
with satirical smile.
In these enlightened times, CAPTAIN
Helding, we only believe in Gancins
cables, and in messages sent from the
other world by spirits who can't spell.
BY comparison with such superssitions
q these, even the Second Sight has
Something-in the shape of poetry-to
recommend it, surely? Estimate for
yourself" she continued seriously, "the
effect of such surroundings as I have
described on a delicate, sensitive young
creature-a girl with naturally mag
inative temperament, leading lonely
neglected life. Is it SO very surprising
4 that she should catch the infection of
& the superstition about her? And IS it
quite incomprehensible that her nerv-
Gus system should suffer accordingly,
at q very critical period of her life?"
Not at all, Mrs. Crayford-not at
all, ma'am, as you put it. Still 1t is
- little startling, to commonplace
man like me, to meet young lady at a
tall who believes in the Second Sight.
sDoes she really profess to see into the
l fufure? Am to understand that she
spositively falls into trance. and sees
Il ople In distant countries, and fore
a 81 events to come? That Is the Sec
Sight is II not?"
fl,at u the Second Sight, Captain.
n that y. really and positively. what
8 1oss. "