The Diamond Bracelet
By MRS. HENRY WOOD.
Author of Ea.st Lynne, Etc.
CHAPTER XI—(Continued )
"Even than my love; Alice, you like
me more than you admit. Unsay your
words, my dearest, and give me hope.”
“Do not vex me,” she resumed, In a
pained tone; “do not seek to turn me
from my duty. I—I, though I scarcely
like to speak of these sacred things,
Gerard, I have put my hand on the
plough; even you cannot turn me
back **
"Tell me one thing. Gerard; it will
be safe. Was the dispute about Fran- j
ces Chenevix?” I
He contracted his brow, and nodded.
"And you could refuse her! You
must learn to love her, for she would
make you a good wife.”
“Much chance there is now of my ;
inaklng a wife of any one.” j
“Oh, this will blow over In time; I
ft feel it will. Meanwhile-”
“Meanwhile you destroy every hope
ful feeling I thought to take to cheer
me in my exile!” was his impatient
Interruption. “I love you alone, Alice, j
I have loved you for months, truly, fer- j
vently, and I know you must have :
seen It.”
“Love me still, Gerard,’ she so.tly
answered, “but not with the love you
should give to one of earth, the love
you Will give to Francos Chenevix.
Think of me as one rapidly going,
soon to be gone.”
“Oh, not yet!” he cried in an Im
ploring tone, as if It were as she
willed.
“Not Just yet; I hope to see you re
turn from exile. Let us say farewell
while we are alone ”
She spoke the last words hurriedly,
for footsteps were heard. Gerard
snatched her to him, and laid his face
upon hers.” j
“What cover did you say the book
had?” demanded Frances Chenevix of
Gerard, who was then leaning back
on the sofa, apparently waiting for
her. “A mottled? I cannot see any
thing like it.”
“No? I am sorry to have given you
the trouble. Fanny. It has gone, per
haps. amongst the 'has beens.’ ”
"Listen.” said Alice, removing her
hand from before her face, “that was a
carriage stopped. Can they be come j
homo?”
Frances and Gerard flew into the
next room, whence the street could bo
seen. A carriage had stopped, but not
at their house. “It is too early for
them yet.” said Gerard.
“I am sorry things go so cross just
now, with you, Gerard,” whispered
Lady Frances. “You will be very dull
over there.”
“Ay; fit to hang myself, if you knew
all. And the bracelet may turn up,
and Lady Sarah be sporting it on her
arm again and I never know that the
cloud is off for me. No chance that
any of you will be at the trouble of
writing to a fellow'.”
“I will,” said Lady Frances. “Wheth
er the bracelet turns up or not, I will
write you sometimes, if you like, Ger
ard, and give you all the news.”
“You are a good girl, Fanny," re
turned he, in a brighter accent, “and
I will send you my address as soon as
I have got one. You are not to turn
proud, mind, and be ofT the bargain, if
you And it’s offensive.”
Frances laughed. “Take care of
yourself. Gerard.”
So Gerard Hope got clear oft Into
exile. Did he pay his expenses with
the proceeds of the diamond bracelet?
CHAPTER XIT.
The stately rooms of one of the
finest houses in London were open for
the reception of evening guests. Wax
lights, looking innumerable when re
flected from the mirrors, shed their
rays on the gilded decorations, on the
fine paintings, and on the gorgeous
dresses of the ladies; tne enlivening
strains of the band invited to the
dance and the rare exotics emitted a
sweet perfume. It was the West End
residence of a famed and wealthy city
merchant of lofty standing; his young
wife was an earl’s daughter and the
admission to the house of Mr. and Mrs.
Lady Adcla Netherleigh was coveted
by the gay world.
“There’s a mishap!"almost screamed
a pretty looking girl. She had dropped
her handkerchief and stooped for it,
and her partner stooped also; in his
hurry he put his foot upon her thin,
white dress, she rose at the same mo
ment and the bottom of her skirt was
torn half off.
“Quite Impossible that I can finish
the quadrille,” quoth she to him. half
In amusement, half provoked at the
misfortune. “You must find another
partner, and I w'ill go and get this re
paired.”
She went upstairs; by some neglect,
the lady’s maid was not in attendance,
and too impatient to ring and wait
for her, down she flew to the house
keeper’s parlor. She was quite at
home in the house, for she was the sis
ter of it3 mistress. She had gathered
the damaged dregs up in her arms, but
her white petticoat fell in rich folds
around her.
“Just look what an object that
stupid-” And there stopped the
young lady; for instead of the house
keeper and lady’s maid, whom she ex
pected to meet, nobody was in the
room but a gentleman—a tall hand
some man. She looked thunderstruck;
and then slowly advancing and star
r jug at him as if not believing her
own eyes.
“My goodness, Gerard! Well, I
should just as soon have expected to
meet the dead here."
“How are you. Lady Frances?" he
said, holding out his hand with hesita
tion.
“Lady Frances! I am much obliged
to you for your formality. Lady
Francos returns her thanks to Mr.
Hope for his polite Inquiries,” con
tinued she in a tone of pique, and hon
oring him with a swimming ceremony
of courtesy.
Ho caught her hand. “Forgive me,
Fanny, but our positions are altered—
at least mine us; and how did 1 know
that you were not?”
“You are an ungrateful—raven,”
cried she. “to croak like that. After
getting me to write you no end of let
ters and all the news about everybody,
beginning ‘My dear Gerard,’ and end
ing 'Your affectionate Fanny,’ and be
ing as good to you as a sister, you
meet mo with ‘My Lady Frances!’
Now, don’t squeeze my hand to atoms.
What on earth have you come to Eng
land for?”
“I could not stop there.” he returned
with emotion; “I was fretting away
my heartstrings. So I took my resolu
tion and came back; guess in what
way, Frances, and what to do.”
“How should 1 know? To call me
‘Lady Frances,’ perhaps.”
“As a clerk; a clerk to earn my
bread. That’s what I am now. Very
consistent, is it not, for one in my po
sition to address familiarly Lady
Frances Chenevlx?”
“You never spoke a grain of sense
in your live, Gerard,” she exclaimed,
peevishly. “What do you mean?”
“Mr. Netherleigh has taken me into
his counting house.”
“Mr. Netherleigh!” she echoed in
surprise. “What, with that—that-”
“That crime hanging over me. Speak
up, Frances.”
“No; I was going to say that doubt.
I don’t believe you guilty; you know
that, Gerard."
“I am in his house, Frances, and I
came up here tonight from the city to
bring a note from his partner. I de
clined any of the reception rooms, not
caring to meet old acquaintances, and
the servants put me into this.”
"But you had a mountain of debts
in England, Gerard, and were afraid
of arrest.”
“I have managed that; they are go
ing to let me square up by install
ments. Has the bracelet never been
hoard of?”
“Oh, that’s gone for good; melted
down in a caHron, as the Colonel calls
it, and the diamonds reset. It remains
a mystery of the past, and is never ex
pected to be solved.”
“And they will suspect me! What
is the matter with your dress?”
“Matter enough,” answered she, let
ting it down, and turning round for
his inspection. “I came here to get
it repaired. My great booby of a part
ner did it for me.”
“Fanny, how is Alice Seaton?”
“You have cause to ask for her. She
is dying.”
“Dying!” repeated Mr. Hope in a
hushed, shocked tone.
“I do not mean actually dying this
night, or going to die tomorrow; but
she is dying by slow degrees, there is
no doubt. It way be weeks off yet; I
cannot tell.”
“Where is she?’’
"Curious to say. she is where you
left her—at I^ady Sarah Hope’s. Alice
could not bear the house after the loss
of the bracelet, for she was so obstin
ate and foolish as to persist that the
servants must suspect her even if
Lady Sarah did not. She felt, and this
| spring Lady Sarah saw her, and was
so shocked at the change in her, the
I extent to which she had wasted away,
S that she brought her to town by main
force, and we and the doctors are try
! ing to nurse her up. It seems of no
i use.”
“Are you also staying at Colonel
j Hope’s again?”
“I invited myself there a week or
two ago to be with Alice. It is pleas
anter, too, than being at home.”
“I suppose the Hopes are her to
night?”
“My sister is. I do not think your
uncle has come yet.”
“Does he ever speak of me less re
sentfully?”
“Not he; I think his storming over
it has only made his suspicions strong
! er. Not a week passes but he begins
j again about that detestable bracelet,
j He is unalterably persuaded that you
took it and nobody must dare put in
a word in your defense.”
“And does your sister honor me
j with the same belief?” demanded Mr.
! Hope bitterly.
“Lady Sarah is silent on the point
j to me; I think she scarcely know's
what to believe. You see I tell you all
freely, Gerard.”
CHAPTER XIII.
Before another word could be spok
j en Mr. Netherleigh entered. An aris
tocratic man, with a noble counte
nance. He bore a sealed note for Mr.
| Hope to deliver in the city.
"Why, Fanny!” he exclaimed to his
sister-in-law, “you here?”
“Yes; look at the sight they have
made me,” replied she, shaking down
, her dress for his benefit, as she had
' previously done for Mr. Hope. “I am
! waiting for some one of the damsels
to mend it for me. I suppose Mr.
I Hope’s presence has scared them
| away. Won't mamma be In a fit of
rag® when she gees tt, for It was new
tonight*
Gerardl Hope shoolt hands with Lady
Frances, and Mr. Netherleigh, who
had a word of direction to give him,
walked with him into the hall. As
they stood there, who should enter
hut Colonel Hope, Gerard’» uncle. He
started back when he saw Gerard.
“C—a—can I believe my senses?”
stuttered he. “Mr. Netherleigh, is ha
one of your guests?”
‘‘He is here on business,” was the
merchant's reply. “Pass on, Colonel.”
“No, sir, I will not pass on,” cried
the enraged Colonel, who had not
rightly caught the word business. “Or
if I do pas* on, it will only be to warn
your guests to take care of their jew
elry. "No, *ir," he added, turning to
Ills nephew, “you can come back, can
you, when the proceeds of your theft
is spent! You have been starring it
in Calais, I hear; how long did the
bracelet last you to live upon?”
“Sir,” answered Gerard, with a pale
face, "it has been starving rather than
starring. I asserted my innocence at
the time. Colonel Hope, and I repeat
it now.”
"Innocence!" iroulcally repeated the
Colonel, turning to all sides of the
hall, as if he took delight in parading
the details of the unfortunate past.
“The trinkets were spread on a table
in Lady Sarah's own house. You came
stealthily into it—after being forbid
den it for another fault—went stealth
ily into the room, and the next min
ute the diamond bracelet was missing.
It was owing to my confounded folly
in listening to a parcel of women that
I did not bring you to trial at the
time; I have only onee regretted not
doing it, and that has been ever since.
A little wholesome correction at the
penitentiary might have made an hon
est man of you. Good-night, Mr. Neth
erleigh! If you encourage him in your
house, you don’t have me.”
Now another gentleman had entered
and heard this; some servants also
heard it. Colonel Hope, who firmly
believed in his nephew’s guilt, turned
off peppery and indignant; and Ger
ard, giving vent to sundry unnephew
like expletives, strode after him. Tho
Colonel made a dash into a street cab
and Gerard walked towards the city.
Lady Frances Chenevix, her dress
right again, at least to appearance,
was sitting to get her breath after a
whirling waltz. Next to her sat a
lady who had also been whirling.
Frances did not know her.
"You are quite exhausted; we kept
it up too long,” said the cavalier In
attendance on the stranger. ‘‘What
can I get for you?"
‘My fan; there It is. Thank you.
Nothing else.”
"What an old creature to dance
herself down!” thought Frances.
‘‘She’s 40, if she’s a day.”
The lady opened her fan and pro
ceeded to use It, the diamonds of hei
rich bracelet gleamed right in the eyes
of Lady Frances Chenevix. Frances
looked at it and started, she strained
her eyes and looked again; she bent
nearer to it and became agitated
with her emotion. If her recollection
did not piay her false, that was the
lost bracelet.
She discerned her sister, Lady Adela
Netherleigh, and glided up to her.
‘‘Adela, who is that lady?” she
asked pointing to the stranger.
"I don’t know who she is," replied
Lady Adela, carelessly. "I did not
catch the name. They came with the
Cadogans.”
‘‘The idea of your having people in
your house that you don’t know!" in
dignantly spoke Frances, who was
working herself into a fever. "Where’s
Sarah, do you know that?”
"In the card room, glued to the
whist table.”
Lady Sarah, however, had unglued
herself, for Frances only turned from
Lady Adela to encourage her.
"I do believe your lost bracelet is
in the room," she whispered in agita
tion. “I think I have seen it.”
‘‘Impossible!’ responded Lady Sarah
Hope.
(To be continued.)
KICKING A BILL OUT.
Document Actually Kicked Out of Hon*e
of Common*.
Sir John Knight, a stout old Tory
member for Bristol, who in the year
1693 proposed to kick a bill out of tho
house of commons, got Into sad trou
ble. It was a measure for the natural
ization of foreign Protestants, and Sir
John, in the course of a violent invec
tive, exclaimed: “Let us first kick the
bill out of the house, and then let us
kick the foreigners out of the king
dom,” this observation being aimed at
William’s Dutchmen, if not at the king
himself. But what Sir John only pro
posed to do with this bill the commons
actually did with another obnoxious
measure in 1770, says Good Words.
The peers had presumed to alter a
money bill by striking out a provision
which offered a bounty upon the ex
portation of corn. The commons, in
dignant at the treatment of their depu
tation, who had been contumaciously
ejected from the peers’ chamber, and
further incensed by the fact that on
another occasion Burke had been kept
waiting three hours at the door of the
upper house with a bill sent up by the
commons, took the present opportunity
to show in emphatic manner that there
was at least one privilege on which
t*ey would not allow the peers to en
croach. The amendment was promptly
rejected, and with it the bill. The
speaker tossed the document over the
table, and members of both parties, as
they went out, kicked it toward the
door.
A Machias, Me., house which was
built in 1765 is receiving its third coat
of shingles.
MISLEADING FIGURES
HAVEMEYER LITERARY BUREAU GET
TING IN ITS WORK.
Crafty Attempt of the Trn*t Magimte
to Prevent Fact* Hearing t'pon the
Question of Protection for the Domes
tic Sugar Industry.
No. 91 Wall Street. New York, October
19, 1901.—Dear Sir As a good deal has
recently appeared Ip print regarding Iho
consumption of sugar In this country, the
various sources from which It Is ob
tained. the amount of duty paid thereon,
etc., the following facts and figures will,
we believe, be of Interest to your read
ers ;
The total consumption of sugar In the
United States last year was 2,219,847 tons,
and, based on the average Increase of
6.34 per cent during the past 19 years, the
consumption this year should be 2,300,685
tons. Of this quantity l.OoO.OOO tons in
round figures will come from American
sources, say Louisiana being able to pro
duce 350,000 tons. United States beet fac
tories 150,IKK*, Hawaii 350,000 and Porto
Rico 150,000, all being free of duty, leav
ing 1,360,585 tons to come from other |
sources and on which duty Is paid. The
average duty assessed is $26 per ton, or
a total of $48,981,060. The price of all the
sugar consumed, however. being en
hanced to the extent of the duty of $36
per ton. or a total of $84,981,060, It Is evi
dent that $36,000,000 additional Is paid by
the people In order to provide the gov
ernment with 48 millions for revenue, of
which the government Is not now In
need. If the duty Is taken off Cuba sugar
the benefit of 8i millions goes to the peo
ple.
On October 8 the quotation for Cuba
centrifugal sugar, 96 degrees test, free on
board Cuba, was 1.96 cents per pound;
duty on same amounts to 1.685 cents—
equivalent to 86 per cent ad vuloretn.
Yours truly.
WILLETT & GRAY,
Hugar Statisticians.
Publishers of the “Weekly Statistical
Sugar Trade Journal.”
Judging by the liberal apace given
by numerous newspapers to the mis
leading circular issued by the statis
ticians of (he Sugar Trust, it seems
possible to deceive all the people all
the time, although Mr. Lincoln
thought otherwise. Not many years
ago Willett & Gray in their sugar
trade paper were earnest advocates of
the tariff on sugar and the develop
ment of the beet sugar Industry in the
United States. Now they appear be
fore the public as sponsors of a most
Wilson bill will convince thinking
men that the addition of 1262.000,000
to the nation’s bonded debt at that
time would have been avoided if sugar
had continued paying Its share of the
running expenses.
"Remove duty and the whole $S4,
981,060 accrue to the public,” says
this defender of the people. If any
one is tempted by this sophistry he is
referred to the records of sugar quo
tations recently ruling and those pre
vailing during the unfortunate years
of free sugar. Muscovado fair refining
averaged a quarter of a cent lower
in those gloomy days than at present,
and the difference on refined was a
shade more. This is not the "1.685
cents” quoted in the circular. More
over, it must not be overlooked that
the whole range of prices was much
lower in the dark days of free trade,
owing to idle mills and unemployed
workmen who could ill afford to have
sugar in their tea or coffee. There
was no such demand as at present and
consequently prices would have been
lower, irrespective of the tariff.
When such a mendacious collection
of misinformation is widely distribut
ed it is natural that the reader should
seek the reason for its existence. The
quest is not difficult. Within a short
time the beet sugar producers have
begun to seek markets beyond the im
mediate vicinity of the refineries.
This has brought them into competi
tion with the large eastern refineries
of Imported raw sugar, and the result
has been lower prices to consumers
and Icsb profit for the American Sugar
Refining Company and the large in
dependent plants. Since beet growing
is siill in its infancy and would com
pete with the bounty supported prod
uct of the old world, removal of the
tariff would retard its development
and perhaps completely annihilate
an industry in which millions aro
invested and thousands find employ
ment. Has not the history of steel
making, tin plate manufacture, tex
tile spinning, etc., been such as to
emphasize the wisdom of helping the
growth of another national Industry?
That low prices will follow has been
proved in all the other industries, and
recent price cutting at Missouri River
points show that beet sugar growers
are already cheapening the cost to
UNCLE SAM’S THANKSGIVING BILL OF FARE.
remarkable collection of figures, evl- I
dently designed to Impress the people
of the nation that they are being
robbed by the duty on raw sugar,
md It is obviously hoped that con
stituents will instruct their represen
tatives in congress to remove the ob
jectionable duty.
Starting with the proposition that
the people pay the full duty, not only
on imported sugar, but all produced in
this country, it is shown that in order
to secure less than $49,000,000 of rev
enue the consumers are mulcted to
the extent of about $85,000,000. In
other words, domestic beet and cane
growers receive $3G a ton as a bonus,
and the home crop for the current
year is placed at a million tons. To
any one familiar with the facts this
gross exaggeration as to the domestic
crop would stamp the circular as un
worthy of attention. Of IiOulsiana
cane the yield is placed at a new high
record of 350,000 tons, and the Hawa
iian output as much more, which is
even more of a stretch, while both
Porto Rico cane and the United States
bqet crops are suddenly enlarged by
nearly 100 per cent.
The total consumption of the coun
(xy is placed at 140,000 tons more than
high record last year, an estimate
that is not indorsed by the recognized
shortage of fruit, which must seri
ously curtail the amount used in pre
serving. But the allowance of only
$48,981,060 revenue to the government
is perhaps the most absurd feature of
this collection of absurdities. For the
i last three years the tariff on sugar
has yielded an annual return of over
$60,000,000, and even if there was no
other consideration, this enormous
source of Income could not be surren
dered by the nation without some
equivalent increase. A glance at the
■ deficit during the operation of the
consumers, though the domestic yield
is hut a fraction of the total consump
tion. If In the course of time it can
become possible to keep at home the
$100,000,000 annually Bent abroad to
pay for sugar, no one questions the
desirability of attaining that end.
Perhaps the most unreasonable sug
gestion of the lot is that the people
would secure the benefit of the rev
enue lost to the government. If the
large refiners could secure all the raw
material from abroad and had no com
petition from home producers there
would be no limit to the prices they
might charge, unless the duty was
also removed from refined sugar, but
for most obvious reasons this idea is
not advocated. If the domestic grow
ers are to be driven out of business
why not go a stop further and abolish
the refineries, so that all foreign re
finers might compete in this market?
Cheapness might then be attained,
but the keen business man knows that
cheapness is not the first desideratum.
Should Not Bt Forgotten.
Our foreign trade both in imports
and exports is quite satisfactory, and
while we are congratulating the coun
try on its great trade expansion, it
must not be forgotten that all this is
being accomplished under the opera
tions of the protective tariff laws so
much denounced and abused )/y the
free traders.—Allentown (Pa.) Regis
ter.
Veritable Hubei of Karcc.
The Russian empire contains more
than sixty-five independent racial
groups. It is a veritable Tower of Ba
bel. Even with liie omission Siberia
and Central Asia there remain in Rus
sia. in Europe and the Caucasus, alone
<6 different peoples.
OTPBKIAS
cleaning,
of the
' “T^v oast Pig.—In the first place,
1 1 never roast a pig over
live weeks old , and three
, weeks is the better age. Do
not trust to the butcher's
but go over every part
body and give a thor
ough cleaning. Roll up the ears
in greased cloths, to prevent their
burning; stuff the pig with stale bread
dressing seasoned with pepper, pow
dered sage and butter. In stuffing the
pig leave room for the bread to swell,
and sew up neatly. Skewer the foro
legs forward; the hind legs backward.
Rub all over with butter, dredge with
(lower that has been seasoned with
salt and popper. Place a piece of wood
between the teeth and stand on the
rack in a dripping pan. Roast in a
moderate oven, basting every 15 min
nutes with melted butter, to which a
little boiling water has been added.
The time for roasting will vary from
2l4 to 1 hours, according to the sizo of
the pig. The ears should be unwrap
ped the last three-quarters of an hour.
To serve, stand the pig In a large
platter with a garland of cress or
something green around the edge. Put
a wreath of parsley around the neck
and something In the mouth—a lemon,
or apple, a bit of cauliflower or any
thing effective. The dishes comple
raental to roast pig aro apple sauce,
turnips and sweet potatoes.
Plum Pudding.—The best plum pud
ding being the worst indigestive con
sequences. I offer a modified recipe,
which 1 can vouch for as "perfectly de
licious.” Three-fourth cupful of mo
lasses, one cupful of brown sugar, one
cupful of finely chopped suet, three
cupfuls of bread crumbs, two cupfuls
of flour, one cupful of sweet milk, one
cupful of mixed raisins, citron and cur
rants chopped, one teaspoonful of soda.
Sift the sugar Into the molasses and
add tho milk and suet. Mix the soda
evenly through the flour and add the
fruit to it. tossing It about to insure It
being coated, then put Into the wet
mixture, adding last of all the bread
crumbs. Boll or steam in molds for
three hours. This pudding may be
made a week before using, one being
careful to reheat thoroughly the day It
is used. .lust, before serving pour some
brandy over the pudding and set It on
the fire, so that It will be enveloped in
a blue flame when placed on the table.
THE CHRISTMAS GIRL.
(In three agenj
THE DOLL AOE.
TII12 GOLFING AGE,
THR DIAMOND AGE.
