Year: 1869

"Do.you hear, my lord" said Lionel
I wish you to blame the right person
1 am alone to blame. Ny cousin ha
rejected me with scorn. For heaven
sake understand that in your anger"


The old mans hand went round The
daughters waist, as he turned to Lilo
mel.


Nephew he said, you are a gen
tleman. No one is more sorry thar
myself that this has happened through
my csrelessness. But my daughter
you see, knows her duty


Alice herself turned aud spoke to him


4 cannot believe you utterly lost to
all honor. Read this letter and clear
yourself IfyOu chose, you can write
to me in explanation. We have seen
each other for the last time


She tossed her letter toward him,
but it fell close to where be was stand
ing-Her father made a dart to get it
but she put her foot upon it and waved
him imperiously off Ny lord obeyed.
There were traditions in his family
and he like many of his order; was the
slave of tradition. The woman of bis
house had the hereditary character of
being easily managed and tractable
when led; but fierce and desperately
indicative when driven. There was
unfortunately two or three Ugly stories
in the history of the family to confirm
this tradition; and my lord let the let
ter lie on the floor.


Edward picked the letter up and read
it. The passage which concerned him
was this:


Your sweet cousin Lionel was din
ing at the mess of the One Hundred
Fortieth last night, and used your
name in scandalously public manner.
He toasted you in the very coarsest
terms, and spoke of you as his 6aaRes.
My brother told me this this morning
| hoped that your cousin had been
drunk, but Georgey says he was perfect
sober.


! louis, ever IOVlOglyJ
| CLARA BRABAZOE.-


Clara Brabazon was an intimate
friend of Alice's. Her brother, the
"Georgey" of fthis letter, was pleas
ant, kind young cornet of dragons.
The blow had come through. George
Brabazon; and Lionel demanded an ex-
planation from him in peremptory let
ter, stating that he had been making un-
fouded assertions with regard to him,
and demanding public apology. Al
as the letter which he wrote in his in
dignation was little too peremptory
for that regiment and for those times.
George Brabszon was advised, which
meant ordered, by his brother officer,
directed in fact by the colonel, to send
a man to Lionel for an explanation.
The fatal step was taken, no arrange
ment was possible now-And so they
met-the kindly Lionel and the merry,
popular young cornet.


Lionel said most solemnly to his dy-
ing day that be never meant to hit the
cornet, but only fred nervously toward
him, with some vague instinct of self
defense. However that may be, the
instant after he fred the poor young
man after staring around him for one
moment, with a ghastly look of horror,
fell down in a heap upon the grass
deadI


LionePs horror and rem orse was ter
rible to witness. The habits of reserve
and repression in which people Of his
order were then educated gave way ut
terly. He lost the self-possession of a
gentleman and. raved and imprecsted
curses upon himself iercely that the
officers who stood around began to get
more scared at him than they were at
the solemn beautiful corps which lay at
their feet. But there was the necessi-
ty of flight, even in those days; and
when Lionel appeared at midnight be-
side the bed of his startled father, he
was calm, though he looked five or six
years older.


His father had a plan for him, and
they talked it over for tomorrow. His
father was poor, and he sincerely regret
ted that he had no provision or career
to offer his son worthy of a gentleman,
but many gentlemen were doing well
in New South Wales at wool growing
Did he think that he could bring bis
mind to entertain such an idea!


you tell me that England has grown
hateful to yeu after these miserable oc-
currenees, my poor boy. Try to forget
them in business


q would gladly go, he said, but we
have no money


4 willlend you five thousands pounds
of your mothers, bearing interest. If
you succeed, you can pay her again; if
you loose it all, why it will be gone,
aud you will have nothing left but our
love and our blessing. Those you will
always bave. You have been a good
son to US, and God bless you


And so he sailed aud the world went
on and forgot him utterly. His cousin
Alice married a young nobleman of vast
wealth, the Marquis of Granton, in her
first season, and became one of the first
ladies in the land.


In Australia, year glides into year
and one almost undistinguishable sea-
son fades into another, and time, di-
vided and unmarked by events, goes on
with equal pace. The years are not
marked by the SHOWS and frosts of
Christmas, or by leafess trees. In
winter there the grass is greener than
the trees; in Summer the trees, though
remaining the same color, are gresner
than the gray dried grass. Thst is all
the change, except, soma little in tenn
perature.


Ten years had gone ovea LionePs
head, and he was steady, rich, sedate
magistrate Of three-and-thirty tefOre he
could believe such a thirg possible.


He was wealthy even for the wealthy |
community in which he lived. Besides
his vast flock of sheep, he had made
some singluarly bold and lucky invest
ments in town lands. He had not gen
ius for commerce, but he was a steady
contemplative, quiet man, who did not
care about making money, and still his
money grew. He had no partner, but
lived alone, about $50 miles from town.


A very pleasant place was this solitary
station of his, ten miles from the next
neighhora. A craak. nYerarched b7 |