CHAPTER XVII. Tiie mollified officer produced a t>aper, over which Mr. Walker pored for about five minutes. “I don’t see anything about searching my house there,” he remarked grimly, ns he handed the document back to Mr. Brown. “Perhaps you'll put your An ger on the place, and I’ll give in.” “It's a warrant for the apprehension of Charles Brauscombe, gentleman,” said the officer pompously, “on a charge of —ahem—felony—a very seri ous charge." “And what the dickens,” cried the old gentleman. Irritably, "have I got to do with Charles Branscombe or any other felon. I should like to know?” "He was seen last close to this house,” said Mr. Brown, “and-” “And whilst you've been Jabbering here he's had time to get far enough away from It, I should say,” Inter rupted Mr. Walker, contemptuously. Ignoring a sign from his wife, who threw open the door with a civil— "You're welcome to look upstairs and down, and wherever you like, sir.” As Mr. Brown descended to the gar den, after an elaborate Investigation of every room In the house, Mr. Wid drlngtou came up the path from the pea-vines, and, catching sight of the officer, “went for” him on the spot. Mr. Brown was a well-built fellow, standing six feet one In his stockings, and the detective was a wiry little man, hardly reaching above his shoul der, yet the officer staggered under the grip of the sinewy band. "You—you blind idiot!” gasped the excited Widdrlngton, as he shook bf; subordinate heavily to and fro. "You confounded dunderhead! Do you see what you have done? You have let the man slip through your fingers, just as we had run him to earth. Look Ihere!" “There,” by the overturned basket filled with green pea-pods, lay a bundle composed of a blue cotton gown and a white muslin cap. Mr. Brown’s bewildered gaze traveled from the bundle to the garden alley. solations as Mr3, Walker's clip of tea. Mr. James Brown, looking terribly ciestfallen, followed his superior along the field-path to the spot where Smith and Varley awaited them. “The man's gone," said the detective, briefly. “lias anything passed this way?” “Not a living thing,” answered Smith, who was from Scotland Yard— “nothing but a hay wagon from the field yonder. I saw It loading all the time." And Mr. Smith had seen also a tired laborer, lolling at full length on the top of the hay cart, half asleep, and with his battered felt hat slouched over his face to keep off the rays of the sun. What he did not see was the laborer's alert descent from hla billowy couch as soon as the cart turned the corner, nor the grin on the wagoner's face as a golden sovereign was passed from his “mate’s” hand to his own; and what he did not hear was the laborer's song —sung in a musical voice, too-as he lurched across the quiet fields towards the not distant coast. The refrain of that song was peculiar for a bucolic singer; “They don't know everything down In Judee." CHAPTER XVIII. One week after our wedding day an epistle reached my wife, the audacity of which simply overwhelmed us. We read and reread It, and Anally Indulged in a hearty laugh over It. It was word ed as follows: ‘‘June 18th, 18—. “My Dear Coz.—I’m open to a com promise; tell your lawyers so. I will make over Forest Lea to you—I don’t care to live there—and you will pay me, say, half of the Income. In the ab sence of the will which Fort asserts was made by our uncle, but which he has never produced. I can of course claim the whole. But we are cousins, and I don’t wish to be hard on you. The old governor ought to have left you something, if he didn't. “Messrs. Smithson and Wright, of Russell street, Russell square, have in WE READ AND REREAD IT. "-'-« It was empty. The Innocent little maid had vanished—like Cinderella at the warning stroke—leaving her finery behind her. Another shake from his irate superior, and a glimmering of the truth dawned upon the stupefied tenses of Mr. James Brown-Mr. Char lie had been one too many for him again. "He’s off.” panted the detective; and It'll 1>« a long day before we get such a chance again! Hang your ountry thlck-headedneas!” The little man literally foamed and stamped In his Impotent fury. Mrs. Walker, standing at her cottage win dow. laughed aortly to herself as she watched him. "Yes, he’s off,” she repeated. "Trust Master Charlie for being one too many for such as they. He nlwaya was the Severest little rascal-bless him' And hey may any what they like, his old aurse ain't n-gotag to tarn oa him. lat tlm b« what he will. Ay. ye may rave tad storm"- to the detective from be hind the safe sheker of the cloned window—"but you'll never catch him sow. Ha'll ha aboard the yacht and sway before you've even guessed bow ee got there." ' What oa earth made them fools Shiah we was harboring their maaf (•bed Mr Walher. who was strutting >p and down the little parlor, •welling like aa offended turhey-corh l>td • uu know anything about this start, team? "—with a sudden suspicion “Dun t you ash no guest ions, and you woa't have no lies told to you.” rs tut ns J hie partner oracularly, as she u ought out the tea caddy sad trotted •I to the httchea to tusks the tea Joel ids *»* sad give my respects to .he two gentlemen la the garden. Man tab. ' she sold to the ‘tank anas I mstd sad s*h them If the* it step la sad ak« a rap of tea. and bring that baa set at paas atoag aa you roam bach, ran aai aa aatt shell sa whea vuu rw ittnag dowa this evening * Pit Mr Widdriagtoa and tbs eoa debts a ere past ail eucb a***etts coa- j structions from me to negotiate the matter with your solicitors—the Row tons, I suppose—and the sooner it is settled the better. Your affectionate cousin. Charles Branscombe. “N. B.—I consider my proposal a very liberal one." "What will you do?" I asked Nona presently. "I should like him to have what he asks for." she replied. looking timidly at me. "Forest Lea will be safe then —that is what my uncle was anxious about—and poor Charlie will not be tempted to do wrong again." "Perhaps not," I assented dryly. 'We are so rich"-my wife* hand stole out to mine—"and to—so happy!" ahe said, with that exquisite blush of hers; "we don't want all that money, do we?" "I want nothing but you. darling," I answered. "You ahall do as you like with the reel." “Thank you," ahe returned fervently "Then you will write, will you not. and tell Mr. Howton to hava It all settled with these people? | have been so un happy about Charlie; It haa been the os# drawback to nil my-my happiness Kidney"-the tears were la her eye* - "the thought of Charlie, outcast aad disiahertled and miserable You know we were little children together; and poverty fur Charlie would mean tempt ation Now, with an Income, he can marry aad settle dowa. aad "Aad yon are sure yon did aot re gret that yon “ ‘ Quite quite sure Oh. flideey. how sea you he so foolish?" murmured my wlfs, with her head oa my shoulder "Yon don't know how Jealous I have been of your coos I a Charlie." I eon fseeed ''I could not bailees is my own bapptasea it seemed too great aad e t; sdm.t that I hi I <> >»m ! foe my donate aad suspicion*" You were very foolish aad vsr* blind re (seated my oife "CtvavH* aad I were nothing more then broth*' aad stains " ‘ l>*d he neves ask yon In bu sum* thing more?" I inquired. "That day, when I met you together, for In stance ?'■ "Yon have no right to ask me such questions," Nona replied with dignity; “and if you please, we will talk busi ness." "Yes, we will talk business." I at sented. "Do you know, my dearest, that in the present phase of the affair, it is Mr. Branseombe who gives you the half of Forest Lea—-not you who give it to him Without the will, which clearly he does not intend to surren der. he is the possessor of the estate.” "Does it matter?" asked my wife. "No," I answeted, shrugging my shoulders, "It |g simply a detail." "And there will be nothing to pre vent the compromise?" asked this de termined little woman, anxiously. "Nothing excepting the restitution of the will. You could not, in that case, give away anything." "Then 1 hope it will never be re stored. In fact,” said my wife with emphasis, "I would not receive it; I would destroy It." "Then you must not take me into your confidence," I laughed. "I can’t have anything to do with compounding a felony." * • • • Nona was never tempted to carry her threat Into execution. Charlie Branscombe’s troublesome career came to a sudden end by the bursting of an overcharged rifle on a hunting expedi tion; and amongst the papers handed over to us by a foreign banker was the missing will. It was not without some natural tears to his memory that his faithful hearted cousin accepted at last her in heritance; and, if she is now consoled by the fair bright face of a young Har old Branscombe Fort, who, as second eon. Is to be the heir—as he is the namesake—of the good old colonel, she still loves to trace in the frank, deli cate features a likeness to the lost playmate of her youth. And I am no longer jealous. (The End.) CURIOUS PETS FOR WOMEN. Some minds are strikingly original, even in the choice of pets. Certainly this was the case with the wife of a gentleman farmer who made a pet of a pig The animal lost its mother early, and the lady, taking pity on the little orphan, bore It off to the kitchen, where she succeeded by the aid of a feeding bottle, in rearing It. The pig became a great pet, and used to follow its owner like a dog. It could hardly have been its outward at traction that won her heart; it must have been its qualities which endeared it to her. Another very singular pet was that of a frog, which was tamed by a young girl in the country and would come out from under the leaves at her approach to be fed with a strawberry. A lady who was confined to her room had a fowl which, before her illness, was a constant companion. It used to be regularly brought to her room every morning to see her and be fed by her own hands, and allowed to take a short walk about her room. Another member of the feminine gender actually made a pet of a tur key, and declared it should "never be eaten, bin die in its own good time," which it did of old age. A much more extraordinary instance of a strange pet, for a woman, at any rate, was where an old lady so far overcame the natural repugnance of her sex as to tame a mouse which had been caught in her store cupboard. So successful was her treatment that at last thed If shea aa artraM she can play Juliet and Hamlet both, while the male Thespian, though he mar mahe a batter Hamlef. la proclud- , •d b> public prejudice sad aa last pis at black i«*ard from ever looking at tho moonlight aaj asbibg Borneo where tore be la Borneo And still she naha for ber ' rights end eeeha for power." I The Irm per* a who ashed tor the earth, and then arolded because u was not tried aa both ailat integrity there ere thus, who as crlbo It tw gfeeuneea sad te*h uf test Mure need uf hoaeaiy Kuw than ever before tried hoaeetv >omplele hwa esty, more than In those times when business was a plain affair and wool ens were woolens, and silks were silks and men were men. How many men do you suppose there are in commercial life who could say truthfully, “In all the sales I have ever made I have never overstated the value of goods; In all the sales I have ever made I have never covered up an imperfection In the fabric; or all the thousands of dollars I have ever made I have not taken one dis honest farthing?” There are men. how ever, who can say It, hundreds who can say It. thousands who can say it. They are more honest than when they sold their first tierce of rice, or their first firkin of butter, because their honesty and Integrity have been test ed, tried and come out triumphant. But they remember a time when they could have robbed a partner, or have ab sconded with the funds of a bank, or sprung a snap judgment, or made a false assignment, or borrowed inimit ably without any efforts nt payment, or got a man Into a sharp corner and fleeced him. But they never took one step on that pathway of hell Are. They can say their prayers without hearing the chink of dishonest dollars. They can read their Bible without thinking of the time when with a He on ttaeli soul in the custom house they kissed the book. They can think of death and the judgment that comes after it without any flinching—that day when all charlatans and cheats, and Jock eys and frauds shall be doubly damn ed. It does not make their knees knock together, and It does not make their teeth chatter to read “as the part ridge slttcth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteh riches, and not by right, shall leave them In the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool." What a school or Integrity Business life Is! If you have ever been tempt ed to let your Integrity cringe before present advantage, If you have ever wakened up In some embarrassmeat, and said: ‘Now, 1 will step a little aeid^ from the right path and no one will know It, and I will come all right again, it is only once. That only once has ruined tens of thousands of men for this life and blasted their souls for eternity. A merchant In Liverpool got a five pound Bank of England note, and, holding it up toward the light, he saw some interlineations in what seemed red Ink. He Anally deciphered the let ters, and found out that the writing had bepn made by a slave in Algiers, saying in substance: ‘Whoever gets this bank note will please to inform my brother, John Dean, living near Carlisle, that I am a slave of the Bey of Algiers." The merchant sent word, employed government officers and found who this man was spoken of in this bank bill. After awhile the man was rescued, who for eleven years had been a slave of the Bey of Algiers. He was immediately emancipated, but was t-o worn out by hardship and ex posure be soon after died. Oh, if some of the bank bills that come through your hands could tell all the scenes through which they have pass ed, it would be a tragedy eclipsing any drama of Shakespeare, mightier than King Lear or Macbeth! As I go on in this subject, I am im pressed with the importance of our having more sympathy with business men. Is it not a shame that we in our pulpits do not opener preach about their struggles, their trials, and their temptations? Men who toil with the hand are not apt to be very sympathet ic with those who toll with the brain. The farmers who raise the corn and oats and the wheat sometimes are temp't0'1 to think that merchant* have an easy time, and get their prof its without giving any equivalent. Pla to and Aristotle were so opposed to merchandise that they declared com merce to be the curse of the nation, and they advised that cities be built at least ten miles from the sea coast. But you and I know that there are no more industrious or high minded men than those who move in the world of traffic. Some of them carry burdens heavier than hods of brick, and are exposed to sharper things than the cast wind, and climb mountains high er than the Alps or Himalaya, and if they are faithful Christ will at last say to them: "Well done, good and faith ful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the Joy of thy lxird." We talk about the martyrs of the Piedmont valley, and the martyrs among the Scotch highlands, and the martyrs at Oxford. There are Just as certainly martyrs of Wall street and State street, martyrs of Fulton street and Broadway, martyrs of Atlantic street and Chestnut street, going through hotter (Ires, or having their necks under sharper axes. Then It be hooves us to banish all fretfulnes* front our lives. If thle subject be true. We look back to tbe time when we were at school, and we remember the rod. and are remember the hard taaka. and we complained grievously; but now wa see It was for the best. Hunt ness life |a a school, and the tasks ; are hard, and Ike ckaatUementa some ttmee are very grievous, but do not complain The hotter thesgre the bet ter Ike r*Aalalg There are men before ! ; tbe throne of Hod tble day la triumph arbo on earth were i heated out of »»• j • rything but their roAa They were t sued, they were Imprtewned fur debt, they were throttled by constables with . n whole pitch uf write, they were sold , out by tbe sheriff* they bad to cots- I ' promise with their rredtler*. they bad I tu rush# ns>iaum«nts Their dying bettr* nere saawyed by the sharp ring , | lag <»f tbe dour boil by eughe impetuous creditor who thought It was outrageous j *ad impudent that a man should dare to die before be paid the last half I dollar I bad a friend who bad many mis fortunes Keeeythtng went against him He had good business rapacity sad nas uf the hast uf murals, but be was one of those men such as you have sometimes seen, for whom everything seems to go wrong. His life became to him a plague. When I heard be was dead. I said: “Good—got rid of the sheriffs!” Who are those lustrous soul* before the throne? When the question is asked. "Who are they?” the angels standing on the sea of glass re spond: "These arp they who came out of great business trouble and had their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.” A man arose in Fulton street pray er meeting and said: ‘T wish pub licly to acknowledge the goodness of God. I was in business trouble. I had money to pay, and 1 had no meaaa to pay It. and I was in utter despair of all human help, and I laid this matter before the Lord, and this morn ing I went down among some old busi ness friends I had not seen in many years Just to make a call, and one said to me, “Why, I am so glad to see you! Walk in. We have some money on our books due you a good while, but we didn’t know where you were, and therefore not having your address we could not send It. We are very glad you have come?” And the man stand ing In Fulton street prayer meeting said: “The amount they paid me was six times what I owed.” You say it ouly happened so? You are unbeliev ing. God answered that man’s pray er. Oh. you want business grace. Com mercial ethics, business honor, laws of trade are all very good In their place, but there are times when you want something more than this world will give you. You want God. For the lack of Him some that you have known have consented to forge, and to mal treat their friends, and to curse their enemies, and their names have been, bulletined among scoundrels, and the?) have been ground to powder; wbtlf.. other men you have known have gone through the vgry same stress of cir cumstances triumphant. There are men here today who fought the battle and gained the victory. People come out of that man's store, and they say: “Well, If there ever was a Christian trader, that Is one.” Integrity kept the books and waited on the customers. Light from the eternal world flashed through the show windows. Lx>ve to God and love to man presided In that1 storehouse, gome day people going through the street notice that the shut ters of the window are not down. The bar of that Btore door has not been removed. People say, “What is the matter?” You go up a little closer, and you see written on the card of that window: “Closed on account of the death of one of the firm.” That day all through the circles of business there is talk about how a good man haw gone. Hoards of trade pass reso lutions of sympathy, and churches of Christ pray, “Help, Lord, for the go