J I t fcl V 4 J tommatmssxx t Thats the one for my money inter rupted Mr Gee loudly snapping his lin gers Mrs Curzon will tell us all about it so fire away and his companion picked out the letter in question be gan to read the following effusion My Dear Miles Of course you have opened and road Mr Barkers letter and know the great news that you are now a rich and an engaged man I wonder how you are taking it Im sure your face is a beautiful study this minute I Wish I could see it Do you know how it happened No of course you dont and you shall hear without further delay Three years ago when Esme was return ing from school just as the train was starting from Victoria an old gentleman and his man servant came scuffling up at any rate Esme is and countrified I6hould like her for a sister-in-law very much and you have my full and free consent Of course you will come home at once By the time this reaches you six weeks of the six months will be gone You will never be so mad as to let the money go to the college in Calcutta if you do I shall consider that you are not responsible for your actions Mind you sell off your little effects without delay and come home immediately to vour affec tionate sister ANNIE CURZON Sell off my little effects I think 1 see myself exclaimed her brother folding up her letter with deliberate contempt With the snipe just coming in and the ces on next month But there are heaps of racing and shooting at home observed Mr Gee No sport to hold a candle to what we have out here Thirty brace of snipe within four miles at Ya Goo or if you like to go down the river to Liriam there are a couple of hundred actually expect ing you Besides all this Im going to have a shot for the gold cup with Des tiny and Ive promised Patterson to ride Typhoon in the hunt steeplechase so I dont stir for a mouth if then Til tell you what Mr Gees favor ite preamble you are too old to be talk ing such nonsense A child would know better than to be playing with his his fate in tbisway And as to Typhoon a bad tempered puling little brute with as much mouth as a whale hell nearly kill somebody yet CHAPTER V True to Mr Gees doleful prophecy Ty phoon threw his rider in the races which tookrplace a few days later with the result that Miles was laid up with three broken ribs Captain Brabazons acci dent detained him more than a month in Rangoon Tt was the first of July before the doctors nvi him a reluciuut ztWT S jNr - jjirty c gaptaii grabaofi j SI BY B 7Ut CROKER JlE 1 - Jill CHAPTER IV Continued He was the queerest old fellow you ever i beheld in a white beaver hat a blue cutaway coat and a checker tie and car ried an umbrella that would frighten you The carriage door was flung open but the inmates showed no flattering desire for his society very much the other way squared themselves and scowled But Esme who is good natured made room for him in fact did the honors of the compartment so agreeably and comport ed herself so worthily that when he de scended at a station he begged the favor of her name and address which she gave little dreaming that the yellow faced old fogy was the renowned Uncle George About six months later came an invita tion asking her to spend three days with the old gentleman It seems that she made a very favorable impression on Un cle G and the conclusion that she was to be rewarded with your hand and that it was a pity to divide the money in the funds Seriously my dear Miles she is a very nice girl pretty and lively or would be the latter only for her stepmother who keeps these poor girls strictly in the back- 1 sion to take his passage in the next Go on go on Im just boiling to hear steamer the sequel said Mr Gee nodding his Is Miles arrived in England oaryx in the head like a mandarin Give me time my dear sir In a few days back came a letter saying that the other was a hoax and he had only sent it to try me and feel the family pulse so to speak and as I had responded in a liberal spirit I would never have any cause to regret my generosity 1 -wish to goodness a relative would play me the same trick A sprat of ten pounds landing a salmon of forty thou sand is plenty good business as they say out here And by the way about your cousin did she tip him too grin- hing Xot that I am aware of She must have been in short frocks at the time of - this particular episode And have you never seen her inquis itively Not to remember distinctly There were two little girls at Aunt Janes -when I went to say good by years ago 1 rec ollect chasing one of them round the gar den and kissing her tremendously but which it was I dont know and 1 suppose it would be a delicate subject to inquire into Pretty picture But if she were as ugly as the pig faced lady herself Id marry her and never think twice about it said Mr Gee resolutely Theres a lot of spending in forty thousand pounds but I cant tancy an old stick-in-the-mud like you chasing and kissing any girl youug or old grinning Tell me some more labout her Where does she live when she is at home Has she any sis ter that would be likely to come in for money Come dont be so glum man alive I -would have to go into our family history said Miles I will read you a letter and enlighten you for I know very little about her myself There are lots to choose from See what it is to come in for a fortune Theres Mrs Braba zons frightfully gushing and full of de light congratulation and consent It would be manners to wait till she was asked Theres Aunt Janes that looks as if it were written with a pin crammed I jwith advice Theres my sister Annies month of August and spent some time with his sister at Folkestone staving off the evil day as he called it in his own mind when he must present himself at Barousford in the ridiculous character of an engaged young man who had never set eye on his liancee Mrs Curzon was si well jointured widow some years older than her brother and any affection she could conveniently spare from her three idolized boys was bestowed on him There is no use in postponing the vis it she declared for the tenth time It looks so extremely odd it looks as if you did not want to carry out the engage ment Neither I do muttered her brother You dont know when you are well off said Annie with decision Its not one young man in a thousand who has your opportunities A pretty girl and a large fortune for the mere picking up You would be mad not to go to Barous ford at least to see her Time is get ting on In the end her eloquent counsels pre vailed and Miles sat down and wrote oil a letter announcing his arrival for the following day Strike while the iron is hot was Mrs Curzons maxim The resources of Baronsford were large its hospitality in old days famous so he waited for no reply but turning his back upon the attractions of Folkestone set forth for Thornshire the next afternoon In three hours time he found himself on the platform at Byford station about four miles from Baronsford and leaving his portmanteau to follow set out across the fields thinking he would make the old short cut and meet with familiar stiles and pathways But ten years had work ed a change He rambled about and lost his way and nearly an hour and a half elapsed before the big red chimneys of the house he sought were to be seen shyly peeping through the surrounding trees As he approached the gate all his dreamy speculations and nervous fore bodings vanished his mind was galvan ized to sudden alertness as he noticed for the first time the figure of a tall girl in white standing on the drive beyond the trees in the full light of the harvest moon She was young and slender as well as he could judge Her head was bent for ward in an attitude of listening and her whole pose denoted eager expectation She was without doubt waiting for somebody Waiting for him Impossi ble The instant she heard his footsteps and caught an outline of his figure she made a quick gesture of welcome and gathering up her dress with one sudden swoop came flying down to meet him with the swiftness of a white squall He could now hear her running toward him in the dark for it was dark her hasty high heeled shoes pattering rap idly over the gravel Nearer nearer nearer they came His heart beat fast er even than when in dense and distant Indian jungles he had heard the stealthy treau or a tiger creeping through the un derwood and approaching the tree in which he was posted She was at the gate even sooner than he was She had dashed it open with hurried hands and j almost before he could realize the fact her arms were round his neck He drew his head back with a jerk while she breathlessly exclaimed I can hardly believe it Ive been waiting for you for ages and now you have really come It eerns too good to be true But how funny and dignified you are Let me have a look at you she panted taking him by the arm and dragging him toward the light To say that he was astonished at this reception but feebly conveys his feelings The first shock over and having success fully eluded her proffered kiss his next thought was his unhappy collar However he yielded amiably enough to her blandishments and suffered himself to be almost hauled into the full search ing white moonlight to be inspected As its first chaste gleams fell upon him jround and is the embodiment of a dozen us companion stopped as if she had been wet blankets consequently they are shy shot gazed into his face with an sion of agonized incredulity dropped his arm with a kind of smothered exclama tion and lied up the avenue like an arrow from a bow He stared after her speed ing figure in speechless amazement till she disappeared into the shrubbery and vanished like the Maid of the Mist The whole adventure had been so sudden and had passed so quickly that it seemed a kind of dream It could not be a ghost Another White Lady of Avencl But no that hug was certainly human There is no use in my standing here and staring like a stuck pig he said to himself at last having somewhat recov ered his mental equilibrium I may as well be moving on and ten tb one Ill find the key to this riddle Its certainly some girl who has mistaken me for her lover She was a lady by her voice and young decidedly By Jove she can run a bit Maybe its Miss Augusta there are only two of them Supposing it had been his young lady But strange to say this notion did not please him at all and turning over this very disagreeable idea in his own mind he reached the hall door He was soon ushered into the drawing room just five minutes before dinner time where he found Mrs Brabazon dressed for the evening awaiting the gong with her hands lying idly in her lap jnd an air of pleasant anticipation pervading her aqui line features Eight oclock was hnr fa vorite hour in all the twenty four Flo rian was lounging in a deep arm chair absorbed in a yellow paper backed French novel Few and evil were the books that he read Gussie was flitting about the room putting away papers work and magazines So it was not Gussie ob served the new arrival to himselfwhen he had once more made acquaintance with his Cousin Augusta with her saucy black eyes and bewitching smiles This is quite an unexpected pleas ire said Vk Brabazon assuming her WZZZM 1 c fgtmtv very beat company manners I think it very nice of you taking us unawares like this without any formality Unawares V be echoed did you not i get my letter f r Your letter will probabb arve here the day after to morrow said Flcriau sarcastically Dont youknowthat we live in the backwoods here and have no second post What did you put on the en velope By f ord Yes Then that means that it stops in By ford postoliice for twelve hours You seem to be progressing since 1 was here last said Miles with a laugh glancing surreptitiously around in search jf another figure Gussie my dear said Mrs Braba zau interpreting the pause with her usual alertness of understanding go and tell Nokes to see about a room at once and Brown to lay another plate and in a stage whisper let Esme know Gussie having given some hasty direc tions to Nokes rushed into the school room with her great news But it was empty So was the dining room accord ingly she ran up the shallow stairs twe steps at a time- breathless to pant forth the intelligence to her sister and plunged into their mutual bedroom headlong At the first glance there was no one to be seen Stay What was that limp crum bled object on Esmes white bed Esme herself Never Esme who had cast herself down in at attitude of hopeless misery and seemed crushed out of all shape and form Why pausing in mid room what n earth is i the matter Arr vnn ill on v demanded Miss Brnbazon aghast No returned a choked voice half buried in the pillows Then what are you about Get up this instant imperiously Mrs Braba zon says you are to come down at once 1 Miles your Miles is in the drawing room No answer Esme Do you hear me irritably Yes of course 1 hear you Im not stone deaf she moaned querulously then all at once sitting erect revealed scarlet checks swollen o S and a very disheveled head Why youve been crying exclaimed her sister amazed Your nose is like a plum I should rather think I have im pressively Gussie she added slowly keeping her eyes intently fixed on her companions face did you ever hear of anybody dying of shame because 1 shall Look here Esme returned the other severely this is no time for such non sense Dinner is just going in and you must come down Mrs B saya so Here going over to the wash stand and hastily pouring out some water get up and bathe your eyes and smooth your hair and dont be an idiot What will you say inquired Esme slowly getting off the bed and rising to her feet a tall and very much creased young figure what will you say she reiterated solemnly when I tell you that I have seen him already that 1 was a long way the first to welcome him with a rather hysterical laugh Have seen him And when if you please disbelieviugly VAt the avenue gate Oh Gussie I dont think I ever can leave this room alive I took him for Teddy And what harm if you did replied her sister Harm echoed Esme just listen and you will soon hear You know since my last letter from Teddy announcing his home coming how I have been counting the days and hours till he came and I was waiting for him near the white gate ever since G oclock Esme how rash of you Supposing Mrs B had seen him skulking about ejaculated Gussie I would not care two straws if she did I would meet him on the hall door steps in broad daylight she panted breathlessly But to go on I waited ages for Teddy and at last I heard foot steps and saw someone that looked very like him coming along the road in the moonlight Need I saw thatrl tore down to the gate threw it wide open caught him in my arms hugged him like a bear telling him I could hardly believe it it was too good to be true that I had been counting the days till I saw him and al together was nearly beside myself with joy I forcibly dragged hinrMnto the light to feast my eyes with a good look at him and I then discovered that I had been hugging a perfect stranger a dark young man who did not seem to approve of it at a and who my prophetic instinct told me was Miles Brabazon To be continued A Promising Pupil A little girl who had just enterea school lately jubilantly announced to her father that she did better than all the girls above her in the arithmetic class and went to the top That was smart of you said he encouragingly Howvas it Well you see Miss Maggie asked the girl at the top how much was S and 5 and she didnt know -and said 12 then the next girl said 9 and the next one said 11 and the next 14 Such silly answers Then Miss Maggie asked ine arid I said 13 and Miss Mag gie told me to go up top Course it was 13 That was nice said the father I didnt think you could add so well How did you know it was 13 Why I guessed it Nobody said 13 Our lattie friend Once More Her little brother was entertaining in the front room the young man who had jusf called Look nere he said suddenly are you goin to propose to mv sister to night Why erer What do you mean asked the youth with some agitation Oh nothin only if you are you arent goin to surprise her At tea jus now she bribed me an my little brother to go to bed at half past 7 Shes hung four Cupid pictures on the drawing room wall got pa and ma to promise to go callin next door shut the dog in the cellar and s been prac tical Because I Love Tou Dearly on the pianner all the afternoon Youll get her all right only if she starts talk in bout its bein sudden tell her It dont work with you The average length of a whales jaw bone Is seven feet f - - WILD BAY FOR WIND FOURTEEN TORNADOES SWEEP OVER KANSAS Many Prairie Counties Are Visited Breaking Up of Hurricane Center Reduces Force of the Wind Small J X oss of Life Results This season Kansas has had fourteen tarqadoes in one day This beats all rec ords in the tornado line even in Kansas According to weather forecasters how gf the unusual number of these storms sjprecisely the tiling that prevented the nfost wholesale destruction of life and property that ever visited the State Originally it is believed tliat one great tornado was formed and that almost at taico it split up into subdivisions This Segregation reduced the force of the jvind so that only two people were killed bythe storms and twenty injured A gTeUt deal of damage was done to crops anti many cattle and horses were killed Over the whole Southwest as far as JTexas the storm wave spread and as ftft as human prescience could discover conditions in that section of the country were never so favorable for great loss of life Jnd property For some mysterious renfion the storm wave widened and the Strength was reduced by 50 per cent or more TV The first storm formed in the neighbor hood of SS Peter and Pauls Church five miles north of Ellinwood Kan at 5 oclock Sunday afternoon destroying onel uouse completely and damaging several tfther farm houses and outbuildings Al most simultaneously another tornado formed about four miles east of Great Bend and moving in a northeasterly di rection demolished fences and barns and killed considerable live stock Here a arm house and building were demolish ed but the family escaped Another Storm at about the same time struck near Pawnee Rock thirteen miles southeast of Great Bend and wrecked several buildings and destroyed crops Consid erable damage with no loss of life is also reported at and near Claflin in the north east part of Barton County and at Fred eric in the western part of Rice County Rain and hail following the storm did great damage to crops in some localitis VISIT THE PRESIDENT Boer Peace Envoys Are Received at the White House Messrs Fischer Wessels and Wolma rans the three Boer envoys who are now in this country visited the White House Tuesday morning according to previous arrangement to pay their re spects to the President No official stat- us was given the visitors and they pre- I presented sented no credentials The envoys were received in the blue parlor no one being present but them selves the President and Secretary Cor telyou At first the conversation touch ed upon a variety of subjects The Boers talked about Wash5ngton told how they admired the city and the President es corted them to the porch at the rear of the executive mansion where a splendid view is obtainable of the Washington moiiiment and the Potomac river Presi den Krugers name finally was mention ed and the visitors then stated their pur pose in coming to this country They said they understood that what Secretary Hay had told them was final and that the position of the United States was that this country could not interfere in the present struggle in South Africa The President confirmed this view He said that the action ho took some time ago President MTcKinley Tuesday pardoned H S Knickerbocker formerly bookkeep er in the First National Bank at Chi cago He embezzled 4900 and was -sentenced to the pen for five years in 1S9S New York ice trust has decided to sell ice in 15 pound lots to the poor for five cents Arctic installation at the Paris posi tion hurned is Metbodists Elect David H Moore and J W Hamilton Dr David H Moore of Cincinnati edi tor of the Western Christian Advocate and the Rev John W Hamilton also of Cincinnati corresponding secretary of the Freedinens Aid and Southern Educa tion Society were chosen bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the sev enteenth ballot at the general conference in Chicago Tuesday The balloting was Total number of votes 603 necessary to choice 444 D H Moore 534 J W Hamilton 510 J R Day 104 H Spell- pjjfjg flba f FDK HAMILTON IffiV MOOKE meyer 71 T B Neely 41 J F Berry 22 C J Little 13 scattering 23 By an overwhelming vote the general conference on Wednesday decided to abolish the pastoral time limit by which a minister has been able to remain in one charge not longer than five successive years Thus one of the fundamental laws of the denomination and one of the principal features of the itinerant min istry is laid aside and preachprs may re main in places as long as the bishops ap point them An event of great interest and far- reaching importance was the action of the conference in changing the words lay man to lay member wherever they occur in the organic law of the chirch This admits women to the con ference and as a result Methodism begins the new century on as liberal a platform concerning women as the latter can ask MUTINY ON THE TEXAS Ten Men Are Conrt 3Iartialed at the End of a Loag Cruise The crew of the warship Texas muti nied on the ships last voyage which has just concluded at the Brooklyn navy yard The commanding officer was in sulted the officers and men guarding the mutineers were attacked and one petty officer was injured fatally Orders for the court martial of ten of the men have been issued AWPLMABwjfg CGSj ABRAHAM FISHER g3 S g PEACE ENVOYS FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC he did with great pleasure in the hope that it might possibly bring the conflict to an end This offer had been declined by Great Britain and he said there was nothing further that the United States could do in the premises The envoys intimated that they were glad to feel they had friends m this coun trv and then bade the President good by This is the most startling case of mu tiny that has taken place on board a United States vessel in years The Tex as has been on a long cruise during which it touched at Galveston and the Bermudas It is said the crew were in a condition of insubordination during the whole cruise and the Navy Department officials are at a loss to understand why serere measures were not adopted at the very first uprising The cause of the trouble is said to have been rum secured at Gal veston This country last year exported more meat products leaving out sheep and mutton than allHhe rest of the world combined The amount was nearly 200-000000- and the great crofts of Indian corn are the foundation of the trade f CUBAN POSTAL OFFICERS MAJOR UATITBOXE Director of Ports BISHOPS ARE CHOSEN POSTMASTER THOMPSON Of Havana have the slightest hesitancy in accept ing his word for that fact just ask him to show you his badge If he is really Uncle Sams agent he will un button his coat and display a silver badge just like that shown in our illus FACIAS AKUU 1 THE CENSUS When the young man with the winning smile rings the door bell and announces that he is a census enumerator if you tration This con- census badge fers upon him all the powers of an officer of the United States Government and as such he is entitled to all due respect When his labors are over Unci Sam generously is going to allow him to keep the emblem of his authority as a souve nir The director of the census will make an effort to obtain exact returns from every gin and press in the South of the number of bales of cotton they handle during the present season No gin is too small or in significant to be overlooked and the in formation sought is so important to the Southern people that the enumerators and special agents anticipate their helpful co operation The work will begin on the FOURTEEN TORNADOES IN KANSAS EST ONE DAY - i i - 1st of June and if successful it is expect ed that a similar cotton census may be taken every year The price of cotton is always based upon the volume of the crop and from the beginning of the plant ing until the last bale is pressed thou sands of people throughout the South are studying the subject with anxious care in order to determine whether to sell their crop at the ruling prices or wait for an advance The Agricultural Department has a thorough system that is generally reliable Several private agencies news papers transportation companies and commercial organizations have undertak en the same work but their estimates are always hundreds of thousands of bales apart There is only one means by which the exact amount of the crop can 5SSSftdat isom e ginning wmuuauiuBuui every Dale has to be gin ned whether it is consumed on the planta tion or sent to Europe and the director o the census proposes this year to count every bale that goes through the ginneries of the country enei Mr Wu the Chinese minister at Wash ii gton has issued a proclamation to the Chinese residents of the United States explaining the purpose of the census arS request ng them to give all the informa tion asked for by the enumerators with out hesitation Ten years ago the erators found it difficult to obtain infor mation from the Chinese who spec d that it was to be used against them and Director Merriam anticipating similar difficulties this year requested Mr Wu to allay the suspicion of his fellow Voim trymen It may be a matter of interpsr fji shtious people that the enoumerationof population this year will be made on FH day the 1st ofJnne fnit faU on that unlucky day For the first time in the hisfe of the x national census there will be an enumew tion this year of animals employ t cities and towns Heretofore the JiS stock census has been confined excnJz ly to farm animals horses cows SET etc but Director Merriam hal order the enumerators to ascertain the number of carriage and saddle horses draft mals and other live stock owned in ciriS towns and villages John Lutz f WITkesbarre Pa will killing his wife for t y - t V V i I lb