, 1899-06-30

- NNbte Win WnICA6ne mas arranged
her dress, she finds the servants surmise
Is correct.
Let me introduce to you my friend,
Mrs. Manners" says Mrs. Hephzibah;
and then she continues to Della: Il hope
have not disturbed you, my dear, but ]
thought it only right you should make
the acquaintance of our clergyman. Mr..
lie Mesurier tells me that he has just re.
turned from his annual holiday, and that
the gentleman we have hitherto heard
ON Sundays has only been taking his duty
during his absence"
II am very glad" says Della.
"Glad of what, Mrs. Manners? ?" asks
the newcomer, with an accent that be-
trays his Irish nationality. THAT l have
returned, or that Mr.. Saunders only took
my dutyY
"Of both, perhaps" she replies. smiling;
anyway, I hope it is not great treason
to say that Mr.. Saunders has sent me to
sleep every time l tried to listen to him.
"Let us be charitable and lay it on the
weather, Mrs. Manners, which has been
too hot to keep awake in under any cir
c~umstances. Do try and think it was the
weather! Else, If you fall asleep again
next Sunday, l shall have no loophole by
which to fatter myself that my discourse
has not had a similar effect upon you to
that of Mr.. Saunders"
He is a distinguished looking man, tall
and well made, with an intellectual coun-
~tenance, and wearing a tight cassoek that
shows off his fine figure to advantage. His
blue eyes and dark hair are strongly Irish,
30 is his winning tongue. In a word, he
tmpresses both his hearers favorably.
II will defer judgment, then, until after
next Sunday replies Della, laughing;
''andi especially since, if / am not mis-
taken, Mr.. lie Mesurier, you are a coun-
tryman of mine, and should claim every
indulgence at my hands,"
The moment the words have left her
lips she regrets them, but it is too late.
The warm partisanship of the natives of
Irelaad is. well known, and Mr.. LIE Mesu-
rier embraces. the idea of the connection
between them.
II guessed as much from your appear
ance. Pray, Mrs. Manners, allow me to
shake hands with you over again in token
Of our good-fellowship. 1t is a real de-
light to meet any one from the .ould coun-
thry' down in these wilds. May l ask if
It is long since you left itT'
Then Della sees still more plainly the
trap she has laid for herself, and the com-
plications to which it may lead. But there
Is no help for it at present. :,
Every long! I have not seen it since l
was q little child"
"Haye you been long settled in Glover
field, and are you a married man?" de-
mands Mrs. Hephzibah, trying to lure him
away from a dangerous topic.
al have been settled here ever since my
ordination, ten years ago, and l have no
wife to share the vicarage," he answers,
with a sudden gravity of
81 hope you are not one Of those par
sons who consider ~celibacy a duty"
Eyes, l do, decidedly. A duty to my
calf" he answers, lightly. what would
become Of my visits to Switzerland, if I
had 8 wife and family to carry about with
meP'
He sits with them for half the after
noon on that occasion, talking in the most
fluent manner on every topic that is start
ed. discussing the country and the town.
literature and music, the Tyrol, the Vat
lean, the Alhambra and the Louvre: and
proving himself not only to be q weIl-read
man, but an excellent linguist and a clever
txayeler, who has made good use Of his