fc 7 fcirf v ft l - k A WARM RBOLD By ST GEORGE RATHBORNE Author of Little Mlts Million The Spldett Wtb Dr Jacki Widow Mitt Coprict etc Copyright 1001 Street and Smith Now York CHAPTER IX Lady Arlines Secret This assurance on the part of the powerful haron was as balm to Char lies troubled soul He believed Capt Brand must speedily find himself In hot water The conversation took several turns Indeed Charlie found the baron so congenial that ho was easily led into relating many reminiscences connect ed with his paHt so that eventually Peterhoff had a pretty good knowl edge of the young mans character At last they separated You can depend on me At the same time keep your wits about you -when dealing with this Brand Some thing will presently drop said the baron When Charlie drew near the hotel after visiting his own room and im proving his appearance to some ex JL tent he was conscious of a nervous condition of mind such as was entirely new tii him And he was obliged to confess that it hiid gone pretty far when the pros pect of an interview with a young wo man could have such an influence upon him The next thing on the program was to find a chance for a quiet talk where the captain could not intrude So he asked again for Lady Arline and she presently came down to the same bijou parlor rosy and smiling Charlie had heard the voice of Capt Brand somewhere about the hotel and he was more or less concerned lest that worthy come in upon them ere he could make his arrangements Hence he speedily opened the sub ject I have much of importance to tell you and we must be where Capt Brand may not intrude Suppose I set a nice vehicle with a quiet animal and we can go to take a look at the suburbs of Antwerp Arline did not hesitate She knew that she could trust this frank faced gentleman with her very life if need be So she quickly agreed to his plan In fifteen minutes then and be sure you wrap up well said Charlie hastening away to secure just the out fit that would suit his idea as to the right thing True to his promise he was back in good time Near the parlor Charlie ran across Brand who greeted him rather effu sively he thought and would have detained him only that the young man refused to be held up and laugh ingly pleaded an engagement with Lady Arline and the impatience of his moble charger outside Thus it came about that after run ning the gauntlet in this way Charlie Avas at length given the proud pleas ure of driving away with the fair girl Charlie knew it was only proper for him to open the ball with an account of the strange things that had befallen him since last he said good night One thing he intended keeping to himself for the present and this was the name of the young fellow who had been his companion in the dun geon At least there was no necessity of bringing it forward until he had heard what she wished to tell him and discovered if his suspicions were confirmed Now that there is no longer a chance of our being overheard Im going to make an awful confession to you Lady Arline he said She turned a startled face toward him and immediately seeing the quizzical smile felt relieved I shall fortify myself to hear it Pray proceed Where do you think I passed the night i She believed she could account for a fair portion of it but confessed her ignorance as to the remainder In the lockup he said calmly Do you mean the jail breathless ly Yes Please dont draw away from me or imagine I was engaged in any street brawl It all came to me be cause I chanced to make your ac quaintance yesterday morning Why Mr Stuart Because forsooth you chance to have a carriage like a queen and be sides possess the most charming of golden hair and blue eyes She blushed crimson and still sur veyed him with puzzled as well as startled eyes I confess I do not understand you at all You will have to explain fur ther Pardon me When I assisted you into the carriage at the Steen I was observed by Baron Peterhoff He be lieved you were the Countess Isolde Brabant because in several ways zX a little distance one might be de ceived My interest in the barons plans induced me to loiter about the hotel last night when he was making his wholesale arrests and by accident they caught me in the dragnet Then she that wonderful woman has been arrested When he nodded in the affirmative strangely enough Arline gave a little sigh of relief as though some unex plainable burden were removed from her heart but Charlie was too obtuse to understand that the first little fire of Jealousy had been kindled in that gentle breast because she knew the reputation Isolde Brabant had as a sofceress among men tvmmsmgmmsmssz The ice hiving now been broken he started in to tell his strange story Arline listened eagerly Indeed Othello relating Mb aston ishing adventures to Desdemona could not have had a more deeply in terested listener than this fair Eng lish girl proved to be When he described his companion in misery he was careful not to say too much lest he betray that which he wished to keep a secret a little longer The story was done Arline had hung on his words eag erly and his assurance that Baron Peterhoff would take care of Capt Brand discovering the truth with re gard to his claims and relieve her of his presence if as Charlie suspected the other proved to be an arrant im poster was comforting to her trou bled heart Still Lady Arline showed no signs of nervousness Perhaps I may shock you Mr Stuart perhaps you have such strict notions of honesty and a name upon which there has never been a stain that you will hardly be as pleased to look upon me in the light of a sister when I confess that I have a relative in whom I am deeply concerned and who has broken the law of his native land who took what was not his own and fled In plain language Mr Stu art my cousin betrayed a trust and stole money She was scarlet with shame as she turned her blue eyes appealingly to ward him Let me tell you as briefly as I can I knew him quite well He was young er and a son of my fathers only brother now long since dead We were good friends up to the time he took this false step and I was the last one he saw before he fled from Eng- land Poor boy if he had only con fided in me I could have easily settled the matter which I did soon after ward at any rate I have been searching since last October at times the trail would grow warm and then I lost sight of him completely By mere accident a friend wrote me that she believed she had seen him in Antwerp though he had not answered her smile and nod I could very well understand why since he believed the officers from London were looking for him That is wny I came here to find this boy to reclaim and make a man of him And I shall endeavor to assist you in your search for this Alexander Brand said Charlie eagerly As it chanced I have some knowledge of the young chap In truth I have seen him face to face Here in Antwerp eagerly In this city And you can take me to him You will Mr Stuart laying a hand upon his arm If you so desire but that will ne cessitate a long journey across the 3ea in fact Then he has returned to England No to America New York How very strangely it all came about she mused Almost incredible Indeed 1 should have been loth to believe such things could be possible if I had not gone through the experience myself Everything had now been told so that there was no more secrets The rest of the ride was occupied in enjoying the features of the scen ery in so far as these points could be discovered from a vehicle And Charlies mind was made up ere they returned to the Hotel de ia Paix that God willing he would serve and win this peerless girl The curiosity of Artemus had been whetted to a degree that demanded satisfaction else his peace of mind was forever gone He asked many questions regarding Aleck Evidently the young fellow had aroused the strongest interest in his mind for he saw in him the elements of a strong character that must at tract attention from the public Where is he bound Hong Kong Nagasaki Singapore Cape Town Im ready to go to the uttermost parts of the earth to interview him Try something easier something nearer home New York with a little almost inarticulate shriek Exactly I have a sort of engage ment with him at the Windsor Hotel in your city But that is not me Well you can make one of the party Arline that is Miss Brand or rather Lady Arline is bound to find Aleck She is possessed of an idea that since fortune was so bounti ful as to heap favors in her lap she should respond by taking care of this half brother or cousin who seems balancing between a bright career and going to the devil Circumstances drive us sometimes dont they Charlie But theres one party I rather guess youve overlook ed Whos that Her father chuckling Capt Brand you mean I believe I have arranged a berth for him Where on the steamer Rather in the place where I spent part of last night Oh ah then hes a fraud sure enough I have every reason so to believe At any rate my friend the baron has promised to look after him Ive no doubt Peterhoffs intentions are good but theres a prospect of his being fully occupied in another quarter Artemus said sagely Meaning the Countess Isolde Well she has seldom missed her game the most wonderful woman outside of Thackerays Becky Sharpe T ever heard of Youre lucky to haTe just missed her my boy Men jeer at her powers and boat about their invulnerable qualities yet no sooner do thoy come In touch with this mod ern Circe than their knees grow weak and one glance from her bewitching eyes charms them even as the rattle snake does its prey Your advice is good I had intend ed depending on my own ability ta checkmate this old reprobate and on the whole it may be best for me tc keep my hand at the plow And Ill stand by ready to give what aid I may Dont hesitate to call on Artemus Barnaby if you are bent upon some dark and desperate business that stands for the right You know I have some sort of a claim upon this affair seeing that only for my pertinacity in dragging you on that wild goose chase in search of the new Man in the Iron Mask of whom old wives in Antwerp gossip you would never have gone there to tho dungeons of the Steen and ergo would never have had the pleasure ol saving Lady Arline from her distress ing position The words of his companion aroused within Charlie a sense of the great debt he owed Artemus who had been an instrument in the hands of Fate tc bring about the result upon which his whole future now seemed to hinge So he seized his hand and squeezed it with fraternal zeal squeezed it un til the owner was fain to appeal for mercy Yes I owe you everything my dear fellow and if I can at any time do you a favor try me There are few things I could refuse you After that there was the fullest con fidence between these two Charlie confided to Artemus his plans for rout ing the enemy and was glad to adopt some very bright and sagacious ideas advanced by the latter Everything seemed as usual Yet under the calm exterior forces were working that threatened a speedy up heaval Capt Brand had taken the alarm Keen eyed man of the world that this great traveler was he read the writing on the wall and it plainly de clared his reign had neared its end Hence he detested Charlie with a venom such as could only be compared with the enraged cobra seeking to bury its poisoned fangs in tho object of its hatred In brief this fine old plotter began to cast about him for some method by means of which he could get rid of Mr Charlie Stuart either teinporarily or for all time He was not alone in his scheming Other harpies there were who hoped to share in the glorious plunder men whose past lives no doubt could pos sibly show almost as great a variety of adventure and bold schemes as his own Accordingly these precious worthies laid their heads together in order to devise some brilliant scheme whereby the obnoxious interloper this young Lochinvar who had come out of the west might be defeated ere he could carry the girl off on his fleet steed And when the conference was ad journed it had all been arranged just how Charlie was to be dropped out of sight However these worthies in planning so neat a campaign failed to take into consideration several elements which had a positive bearing upon the ulti mate outcome There was the baron for example Besides there was Artemus No doubt this latter individual with his peculiar notions and his apparent ly inoffensive appearance would have been looked upon by the hoary old fortune hunter as very much in the line of a freak and must be brushed aside without ceremony But they made a mistake Under that simple exterior beat a bold heart and a keen brain For Artemus had taken a room next to Capt Brands and during that cele brated conference his eye and ear did noble duty at the keyhole of a con necting door To be continued WHERE DEATH REIGNS HIGHEST France Though Favored by Nature Has Heavy Mortality Record M Papillon has lately printed a striking array of statistics on the re lation between public hygiene and mortality from which the following instances and remarks are taken France he says is favored by cli mate and in other respects Why is its birth rate the smallest in Europe its death rate among the greatest The cause is not in nature but in in stitutions From the 38000000 inhab itants of France 150000 deaths from tuberculosis annually occur while there are but 60000 among the 41 000000 of Great Britain but 90000 among the 56000000 of Germany In every nation of Europe save France the mortality from tubercu losis has diminished and at the same time the consumption of alcohol has retrograded The results are that in France between one census and the next the mortality from tubercu losis has increased 68 while in Ger many it diminished 109 in every 100 000 inhabitants The difference is 77 per 100000 or in the total popula tion 6S000 lives were lost during the last census period in France thai might have been and ought to have been saved Hyprophobia is stamped out in Eng lang and is still common in France The case is similar for other diseases Typhoid Fever Kills Soldiers During the months of January and February there were 800 deaths from typhoid fever in the British army Notwithstanding the regulations re garding boiled water the soldiers con tinue to drink out of brooks and rivers AJRE WE TOO RICH THE FOLLY OF TAKING LIBERTIES WITH PROSPERITV Jloddllnc with tho Tariff Seems to Ito a Passion with Soins People Hut It IIa Always Kcaultud in Alternating Streaks of Plenty and Famine It would bo an excellent thing If the good sense of a country noted tho world over for its practical turn of mind could be concentrated for a time upon tho question of taking liberties with prosperity There should bo more of the sort of discussion that i3 to be noted in the current columns of such newspapers as the San Francisco Chronicle the St Louis Globe-Democrat and the Columbus O Journal setting forth the inane folly of estab lishing alternate periods of prosperity and stringency by means of tariff changes Commenting upon the tend ency of our people to get tired of their riches and to revert to lean periods through the operation of re forming the tariff the Columbus Journal says We leave it to the common sense of the American people if this alterna tion between plethora and famine is not ridiculous If there is a law of na ture which makes it imperative that prosperous tariff years should be fol lowed by lean free trade years as in old Egypt the seven fat years of regu lar inundation and rich crops were fol lowed by seven years of drought and famine then the country should know it Meanwhile it is reasonable to think that if the voters of the nation would take a little thought for the morrow there would be no occasion for these alternating streaks of plenty and famine If now that the country has filled up with wealth again since the poverty and beggary and hand-to-mouth borrow ing of the lasf Democratic administra tion there should come the same old alternation to a so called tariff for rev enue only then there will be the usual failure of business tendency to panic RESULT OF THE ENTERING WEDGE It Will Intorrnpt Homo Production and Cripple Industry The Intelligencer some days ago claimed that the worst feature of the Cuban relief policy was that it would act as an entering wedge to be driven still harder into the protective tariff policy as maintained by the Re publican party We do not know what the fate of the Payne Sibley compro mise measure will be in the senate but we are assured that it will be op- posed by both Senators Elkins and Scott who stand firmly for the Integ rity of tho tariff That tho passage of the measuro by tho senate will bo used as an entering wedge Is pretty clearly defined by tho half chuckling remarks of tho ultra freo trado Phila delphia Record which loses no oppor tunity to thrust a knife into tho vitals of protection In a recent issue it pointed out that the Cuban measure was a splendid tactical opportunity for the Democrats and added It would be miserably poor policy to oppose a rightful measuro to which tho faith of tho nation has been com mitted In order thereby to secure a merely partisan advantage No oppor tunity should be lost to mako a breach in the protection wall Small and nig gardly as Is the proposed 20 per cent reduction of the 97 per cent duty on Cuban sugar it should not be refused by the aid of Democratic votes It Is an entering wedgo which may be driv en home when further opportunity shall offer There has been no convincing proof brought forward that distress exists in Cuba of the character that would warrant any relief from this country at a definite cost and injury to some of our own people In a letter to a member of the Republican club of New York city a member of the house of representatives who fought tho Payne Sibley compromise states that of Republicans throughout the coun try thoroughly understood the situa tion there would be such an over whelming sentiment against this new proposed un American policy as woula sweep it out of existence and leave It without a single Republican supporter Referring to the reports as to the prevailing distress on the island the congressman quoted says that it Is conceded by those who are advorating this policy that there is no distress in Cuba that the demand for labor there is greater than tho supply that wages are higher than ever before that at least two thirds of the sugar crop is produced by non resident cor porations and wealthy individual planters whose domicile is either the United States or Spain Two thirds therefore of the reduction of duty PRACTICE ALWAYS BEATS THEORY withdrawal of capital and all those other symptoms of a disease that re quires a violent remedy If it is un wise to pay too much attention to the various interests of the country which ask for high tariffs it is certainly not less unwise to listen to nobody except the New York importers and the news papers which these importers control The usual New York clamor has al ready begun It invariably in the past has controlled the action of one of he great political parties of the country Now is the time to stop that once for all The nation is too big to be starved for four years and then over fed for eight age without end Let us have a little more common sense and a little less epigram and fine writing and oral eloquence in this matter of the tariff We would remind the Journal that the clamor for tariff tinkering is by no means confined to New York news papers that are under the influence of importers It is best to look the situ ation squarely in the face and to ac knowledge that the passion for tak ing liberties with prosperity inflames the brains of many men and many newspapers located far in the interior The country is full of theorists who cannot control their desire to tackle the tariff They are to be found in Congress and out of it and they are not all Democrats and free traders either Far from it But it is time that level heads and horse sense should come to the front and sit down hard on the policy of alternation be tween fat periods and lean periods The country has to be sure grovn very rich since the last fat period was installed with McKinley and protec tion but has it grown so rich that it is tired of prosperity If it has we shall see the tariff rippers in the sad dle once more and that very soon if it has not we shall keep our hands off the tariff for some time to come and take- no liberties with prosperity would go to these non resident plant ers if it did not all go to the sugar trust and there is abundant evidence that it would A great deal has also been said about the late President McKinleys position with regard to reciprocity as enunciat ed in his Buffalo speech but we do not see how it can be twisted to ap ply to Cuba His advocacy of reci procity was qualified by this phrase xJy sensible trade arrangements which will not interrupt our home production we shall extend the outlets for our increasing surplus The re lief of Cuba would not only interrupt home production but will cripple if not paralyze two important industries the beet and cane sugar interests Wheeling Intelligencer Sound Scnatorially and Kdltorlally The demand for tariff revision and for the increased admission of foreign goods to compete with and displace domestic production doe3 not exist in the west to the extent claimed by re visionaries and reciprocators Where it exists at all it is chiefly to be found in editorial sanctums Among the peo ple there is little or none of it Sena tor Hansbrough of North Dakota is an editor but not of the revlsionary and reciprocatory type In his newspaper the Devils Lake Inter Ocean he says Tariff revision should not be at tempted through reciprocity treaties Reciprocity is not as yet an exact economic science It has been and will continue to be employed as an adjunct of protection which has been and will continue to be the sheet anchor of our industry We will enter into reciprocal trade relations with foreign nations when by so doing we may derive mutual benefits without destroying any domestic industry Tne free trader will be obliged to abandon his attempt to make the tail wag the dog This in our judg ment is the view the present adminis tration must take of the subject This is sound Republican and pro tectionist doctrine likewise sound common sense Certain nearby edi torial neighbors of Senator Hans broughs with larger pretensions and smaller grasp of economic questions would do well to paste it in their hats Sir Henry M Stanley is now devot ing himself almost exclusively to coun try life and developing into a gentle man farmer Great boaster little doer POLYGAMY DYING OUT TURKISH WOMEN COPYING THEIR EUROPEAN SISTERS Each TVIfo Now Demands Homo of JIer Own and tho Cost It Too Great for tho Follower of Mahomet In novations In Costume Polygamy is fast dying out among the Turks and not on account of any change in moral standards but because of the altitude of the women them selves Formerly a mans four or ilvo wives dwelt amicably under one roof but now every wife demands a homo of her own and the Impossibility of supporting so many homes is compel ling the average Turk to limit his harem to one wife This now proof of the civilizing In fluence of woman was given by Miss Florence A Fensham dean of tho American College for Girls at Con stantinople in a talk before the League for Political Education in New York on The Outlook for tho Woman of the Orient Another statement that seemed novel to many in the audience was Tho Turks as a race are of fair complexion with blue eyes and are delightful peo ple to know They are truthful hon est and hospitable in a high degree In those respects the mass of tho Turks those ofthc uppermiddlo class differs greatly from the government but a nation must be judged not by its highest nor its lowest but by the great class between There is a general impression abroad that Turkish women arc shut up behind the lattice windows of the harem and have little freedom to go about This is far from correct The Bosphorus steamers are crowded with them they jostle you on every hand in the narrow streets of Constanti nople Veiled they must be but veiled they go about with a freedom greater than that assured any European wom an for to molest a Moslem woman means death to a Turk and serious consequences to a foreigner It is an acknowledged fact that the women of Turkey control most of the government appointments To quote from a work recently published by one long resident of the country The women hold ultimate sway over the conduct of the men The tangled in trigues for place and power which center in the harem form the key to many vicissitudes of Turkish his tory Even the dress of the women of the harem said Miss Fensham shows their growing independence A few years ago every woman wrapped her self before going out in an upper gar ment that completely enshrouded her head and was not to be removed until she was again in the house Now all the younger women have adopted a looser head covering that they drop at will when on the Bosporus steam ers for a pleasure trip or resting else where Several edicts were issued by the sultan against the innovation but after a few months of obedience th women would quietly resume their new headdress until another edict banished it for a time At last he becam wearied of the struggle and the mod ern fashion has become a settled thing DEMAND NOW FOR YOUNG BLOOD Old Men Being Crowdnd Out by Youth ful Competitor Two very remarkable movements are discernible in the business and the ed ucation of the times and yet when we come to examining them we find that the tendencies have been clearly in view for more than a decade Six years ago the present writer went to the president of one of the largest cor porations of this country and asked him to give employment to a man who had turned his forty eighth year says the Saturday Evening Post There was personal reasons why he should grant such a request and the persons for whom the place was sought was en tirely acceptable in character ability and health The presedent replied I want to do this but it is impossible The age of the young man is crowd ing upon modern business so fast that he will eoon monopolize it We take no one who has passed forty five we cannot afford to do it But if this man has a son anywhere from fifteen to twenty five years old Ill find a po sition for him at once So far ha- this tendency gone that the problem of getting rid of employes above a cer tain age is now under discussion and so great has been the uneasiness that several of the large concerns have is sued statements that the old men will not be discharged Jurymans Clever Ruic A story is told of a juryman who outwitted a judge and that without lying He ran into an assize court in a desperate hurry quite out of breath and exclaimed Oh judge if you can pray excise me I dont know which will die first my wife or my daughter Dear me thats sad said the inno cent judge Certainly you are ex cused The ladies mentioned are still in ex cellent health and the juryman hopes that the solution of the problem may be long deferred The Orljyln of Foarls Recently Dr H Lyster Jameson made an interesting communication to the Zoological society of England on the origin of pearls He had found that the real nucleus around which the pearl substance accumulated was the dead larva of a distoma or fluke The young flukes pass a certain period of their early life as guests in the bodies of fresh water shellfish