Waterbury Democrat., 1901-09-06

other ideal, would you quite like to tell him that you wrote to young Norman about your train as the strong probability is that, if you do, be will be your fellow traveller"
 "Thank you very much, Mir. Spen- cer. You can be so nice, when you l like. am going in now to make my self pretty for lunch. wonder where the others have been. all the morn ing"
 It was more than an hour past mid- night; the men of the party staying at Winners court were still lounging in the smoking room. There is an entirely baseless superstition among all men in all country houses that their combined conversational powers are equal to the task of keeping each other amused for three hours or so nightly. It is a superstition that will never die, though it is proved to be an absolute fallacy in hun dreds of houses night after night. The flow of talk had gradually, died away into spasmodic inanities, when the signal was given for abrupt de- parture by the remark: T wonder whether any of you remember that red setter of mine called sVictor?' The drowsiest of smokers jumped to his feet with miraculous promptitude and made a dash for the hall. The dreariness and glaring impossibility of the after-midnight dog story are beyond human endurance. Fishing exploits stimulate healthy imaginative rivalry, but dog stories are funeral. The yearning for bed was universal.
 There are two or three little details which are never omitted at the ad l iournment of the smoking room par liament The first thing is for every one to express his surprise, in an al- most injured tone, at the lateness of the hour: and then, in deference to 1 the sleeping household, heavyweight men creak about on exasperatingly noisy tiptoe and exchange hoaTse shouts of goodnight with one an-. other in what they fondly imagine to be a sublued whisper. As these in teresting ceremonies were being per- formed with all due punctilio, some one noticed a strong smell of burn ing wood, indeed, it was so strong that he actually ventured to break in upon the hoots of goodnight around him to draw attention to it.
 s'You may bet your life, Spencer, my boy, that this old barrack of yours is on fire. You had better rouse the servants, and get the womenfolk down stairs quietly"
 l Don't be an ass, Ted, it is no use | 1a1 0f fhaiT. lives-perEaps for nothing. It's prob ably only something smouldering in the kitchen, there can have been no other fires lighted in this weather. l Let us see where we are first. Come along, boys, I'll show you the way"
 When the smoking room party in vaded the sacred precincts of the 1 kitchen there was no longer room for doubt about the fire. The roar of the i flames could be heard in the enormous | cavern of the old-fashioned chimney, l and a brilliant red light shone upon the hearthstone and the kitchen floor.
 "Cut over to the stables, Charlie, will you, and get them to saddle | Quickstep for you, and hurry into Lilfield as hard as you can go. The l fire engine is at the town hall. They 1 may perhaps turn out little quick I CT for you than they would for groom, and you needn't mind knock l ing the horse up; it can't be helped. Send the men from the stables over here as soon as they have saddled your horse"
 "Come along, you men, we can do nothing down here. I'll take you up on the roof by the back stairs. Come up as quickly as you can. We had better get the blankets out of the spare rooms and try to stife the chim- ney. There are some waterjugs in that pantry, they'll be useful"
 All efforts to extinguish the fire 1 were, however, in vain; the most that l could be done was to check it's spread ing from the west wing of the house by keeping up as constant cascade of water as possible with stable buck cts upon the rooms adjoining the out break. The fire, however, continued to extend it's borders in all directions, as the now white-hot brickwork of the chimney conJmunicated destruc- ton to the panelHlg of all the rooms that surrounded its glowing shaft.
 The noise of Enese proceedings had in the mean time reused the whole house. Amy Athton had hurried into peignor and pair of slippers, and was just hesitating at her door before making a dash over to her aunt's bed- room for consolation and advice, when Spencer, begrimed with smoke rushed along the corridor. Confronted by sudden temptation, human nature is but weak. This glorious and un- looked-for opportunity of holding in his arms, for just five short minutes, this most tempting and tantalizing of girls was too much for him. He knew that, to her, he was merely a middle-aged fogy; in few months she would probably marry Fred Nor man or some other young cub. His house might burn to cinders for all that he cared, but the wild intoxica- tion of having her in his arms for those few minutes, he resolved should be his. With resolute man, to think is to act. He hurried toward her.
 ssThere is not minute to be lost, Miss Ashton; trust yourself entirely to me.'' With these words he lifted | her ho1d1v from the orO11nd Amy