St It J S r ti 17 l1 kl H i 1 1 h m I I 1 her brain were almost equally agonizing After dinner when they were alone in the large empty drawing room with its silent shadowy corners seated near the fire one at either side each with a book and each with a lamp Mrs Brabazon could restrain herself no longer She glanced over at the bent brown head across the hearth rug cleared her throat laid a new novel upside down on her lap and said one word a word that meant a good deal it was a kind of conversational rocket the prelude to action the word Well a well that was at once in terrogative triumphant xand authorita tive Esme raised her eyes and met her step mothers derisive malevolent smile a smile that she felt like a stinging lash her stepmothers face alight with triumph and athirst for information She did not speak but she looked across the hearth without lowering her lashes or a change of color Well repeated Mrs Brabazon reit erating the word in a still louder more aggressive key Oh how Esme dreaded the coming dis cussion What is it that you wish to know Mrs Brabazon I wish to know your opinion of Miles Brabazon now she returned promptly His letter was tothe point was it not watchingher companion closely Very much so replied Esme quietly M21y opinion of him Your opinion of him eagerly I shall keep to myself We are never likely to meet again All is over between us as he says and if it is quite the same to you we will never recur to the sub ject I was mistaken we are all liable to make mistakes that was all As Es me eaid this her face was ashen white tears stood in her eyes and her voice do as she would trembled with emotion You see you might just as well have accepted Craven Hepburn after all ob served Mrs Brabazon impressively I do not see that it makes any dif ference I do not care for Mr Hepburn returned Esme firmly excepting as a friend and nothing would ever make me marry him I shall never marry anyone now Her voice as she spoke was quicksand low Mrs Brabazon immediately draped her self as it were in a garment of obtrusive incredulity smiled poked the fire cough ed turned up the lamp and then remark ed oracularly Every girl who has had a disappoint ment says the same thing but if 1 am not greatly mistaken they generally change theirsminds within six weeks or eo and marryvmaking very often a far better match just to show the young man that they tnrk very little about him Having thrown oul this suggestion to her opposite ueighbori Mrs Brabazon picked up her book ank was soon lost to her immediate surrouv Jiigs in the perusal of an exciteig and riiaritic love story The next day Esmi walkW down to the Tillage and registered and posted a small parcel for South Africa Wjith her own hand she dropped it into the depths of the letter box It was not eVery day the Maxton correspondence had ajich a oiWwv Vcbc asr riji JftjMrfvteteft M ft- W aptait grabaoii BV B 7HY CR0KER yilitapyomar2eea0ra2Bepea iJw X fc W 4 r XXlvi JS htt a pttiti TXT We companion as two diamond earrings a brooch and ring all of the first water It is nnnPCPssarv to state that Esme 2 time in hurrying upstairs with the d all bought with the price of three lost no letter in her hand She did not go straight to her own room and sat down in a big wide window seat in the landing where there was plenty of light and where no one was likely to disturb her and with throbbing heart and trembling fingers she drew the following note from its envel ope unfolded it held it close to the little diamond panes and read Dear Mrs Brabazon Your letter re ceived I have debated with myself for some time and have come to the conclu sion that your views on the subject of the engagement between Esme and me are quite right and that there must be an end to everything between us 1 am as you say miserably poor I have no prospects and I am the last man in the world to ask any sacrifice from a girl I cared for I shall not write to her nor seek to renew the ties as you call them in any way Some richer and some luck ier fellow will no doubt take my place be--fore long 1 remain yours truly MILES BRABAZON Esme read this through twice the first time very quickly the second time very slowly before she could realize what it meant and then leaning her head against the window pane she closed her eyes and tried to understand that Miles of his own accord and of his own free will had re nounced her that some other luckier and richer fellow than himself was welcome to take his place Miles that she had believed in Miles that was Teddys friend that had pre tended to have loved her with all his heart and soul Miles without a word of regret in half a dozen cold lines written in a steady unfaltering hand and con taining no message for her of either Burmese race ponies Esme had never worn them since that fatal day last Sep tember but she had often taken them out of their cates and looked at them affec tionately Esme made a successful struggle to keep up appearances and to show a brave front She never flinched never relin quished the strong hold on her self-com mand and assumed a certain amount of I unconsciousness and gayety that baffled Mrs Brabazon and deluded Miss Jane She was a modern Spartan girl and yet outwardly busy in the village active in the house smiling and cheerful inwardly wearing her heart out with aching recol lections a bitter sense of humiliation and unavailing regrets Pride came to her assistance and enabled her to bear up nobly in public to present a cool nat ural self possessed appearance to the in quiring optics of Mrs Brabazon and the kindly but curious and puzzled ones of Miss Jane who one day suddenly made up her mind that she -would speak to Esme quite seriously and opportunity for once trod upon the heels of resolve for at that very moment her niece walked into her sitting room charged with a message from a sick pensioner Esme my dear you are the very per son I want I have just been thinking of you said her aunt Thinking of you and Miles Esme colored vividly and sat down with her back to the light and then said indifferently What is it Aunt Jane 1 suppose you know Know I know nothing my dear and I want to know everything she re turned emphatically You have not heard then what he has written said her niece in a hard friendship or concern had calmly broken I strange voice as if she were repeating a off her engagement and renounced her The blow was so unexpected the revul sion of feeling so hideous and so over whelming that she felt quite stunned her one dim ray of hope was extinguish ed her golden dreams turned in an in stant into thick dark despair What had she left to live for now Nothing but a dreary blank life stretched out before her Teddy was gone and Miles was gone And she had been building vast castles in the air all based on his return Now when he did return his return would no longer concern her he was nothing to her nor she to him How Mrs Braba zon would jeer How Gussie would tri umph The thought was maddening but all the thoughts that came crowding to well learned but difficult lesson And it is all entirely at an end between us there is no engagement now Bless my heart Tut tut tut Esme I thought better of you Come now now I really thought better of you nay I think better of you You are not going to punish hini always for his unlucky mistake Come over here and sit beside me my dear and tell me all about it The truth is then Aunt Jane and I suppose you ought to know gulping down a huge lump in her throat as she spoke that it was not I who broke off the engagement it was Miles What What do you say said Miss Jane in a low and horrified tone of voice It is impossible It is quite true Aunt Jane and if you The idea that Miles had been acting a i wish you may see his letter nothing part had only cared for the money and I can be plainer not her was the most stinging and pain- His letter breaking it off I cant be ful of all Once he had led her to think lieve it He must be mad Most ex very differently but whatever he said traordinary most unaccountable What then there was no doubt of his does he mean Miles is a man of honor ments now You have done something Esme What He says he says bringing out the words reluctantly that he -is poor and has no prospects in short he would have no money and and he hopes some rich er and luckier fellow will take his place she concluded her lips quivering she was looking at her aunt through a mist of un shed tears But this is monstrous exclaimed the old lady suddenly pausing in her walk and surveying her niece fiercely and you you are taking it so coolly so so unnaturally Oh you young people of the present day have no feeling but I can tell you that its a dreadful blow to me a dreadful blow I would oiot have be lieved it of Miles And as to the money if I had only known recommencing her walk and dropping shorty incoherent sen tences about No use to me now Teddys gone The two I liked Rich old child less woman Too late now Esme gazed at her aunt helplessly as she took up her dropped stitches and won dered much that she had taken her news so very much to heart I am very greatly upset Esme 1 dont know when Ive heard anything that has put me out so much Then please dont talk of it any more Aunt Jane said Esme rising and speak ing with strange composure Come out into the garden and show me your new crocuses we have none out yet Ill fetch your bonnet and shawl from the lobby it will do you good to take a turn It was a curious sight to see these two the bent and now infirm old lady and the tall slight upright girl slowly pacing the gravel walks arm in arm in silence They represented the rising and -waning generations with more than forty years between them and yet one chord vibrat ed alike in both their hearts one identi cal topic filled their minds Love And although in the case of the elder lady it was but the old faded forgotten story seen pale and faint through the moonlight of memory and in the case of the other it was a dreadful glaring recent reality that pictured itself in her unhappy mind a fellow feeling united the aunt and niece J in a manner that each was sensible ofi in her inmost soul Miss Jane now began to understand her niece and to put anoth er interpretation on her studied placid mien She was not really cold and cal lous as she teemed She felt Miles de fection just as she would have felt such a thing herself sensitively yet secretly and the good ladys anger burned hot within her as she reflected on her ne phews conduct and as she stood on her doorsteps spectacles on nose and grave ly watched her favorite niece out through the little white gate she muttered thrice to herself and Lady Louisa Most unac countable most unaccountable most un accountable CHAPTER XXII The lives of some families are like a pool in which without being exactly stag nant nothing occurs to ruuw the siirriee of the water from years end to years end and then comes a quick series of tremulous splashes like naughty boys throwing stones As regards the Braba zons Teddys enlistment was splash ber eo which was followed by Eme legacy her disastrous engagement Au gustas marriage and now it remained only for Florian to make some small stir and which he accomplished in the following manner He arrived quite unexpectedly in time for dinner one day Never before had he favored his home in the bleak month of March and Esme said to him half play fully as she helped him off with his top coat To what are we indebted for the honor of this visit Xndon Pride What has brought yoa I will tell you after the missus has gone to bed he returned impressively I shall go up and come down again in a smoking jacket after she has retired we will have a talk Why what can it be staring at him speculatively Youll hear soon enough my good girl nodding his head expressively Have patience So after Mrs Brabazon had gone to rest the young people took possession of two armchairs in front ot a fine fire in the drawing room Cant you guess it he asked staring at her fixedly and with a conscious com placent smile You are going to be married she re plied after a pause Right you are Clever girl I am going to marry Hatty CHpperton Hatty Clipperton with a little start Yes An awfully jolly nice little girl Some money Heaps of go in her Just my style down to the ground 1 have not told Gus yet nor of course Mrs B I want you to break the news to her gent ly Esme I aghast My dear Flo I would not I could not I dare not not for a thousand pounds Oh come thats nonsense you are the only one all these years who dared brave her and you must do it for me its the last time Why not speak to her yourself Flo you and she have always been friends it would come best from you No no when you have anything to do you dont like always get someone else to do it for you thats my idea We are to be married in three weeks Yes indeed you may well open your mouth but Im telling you the truth We have been engaged this two months and Im my own master you know and there was no one to consult I used to say Id never let myself go under 3000 a year but Im knocked down a dead bargain after all Hatty likes you and Gussie superbly but she hates Mrs B like old boots and swears she shall never spend a night under her roof Meaning this roof said Esme with raised brows Yes and as old Clipperton wants to go off abroad he has rather run me in to get the wedding over do you see and we are thinking of coming here for the honey moon and of course you and Mrs B will have to clear out and let the house be done up a bit dont you understand This is very short notice Flo How long can you give us Well say a week You see theres nothing to move but yourselves and your clothes he drawled unconcernedly I am not so sure of that shaking her head I fancy from what Mrs B said one day that she claims a lot of orna ments silver plate and pictures and linen c She be blessed She had better not let me see her lay a finger on anything here or Ill set my lawyers at her She has been playing a very deep game by all ac counts and she feathered her nest right well Oh Flo you shouldnt expostulated his hearer Oh Flo but I should Im not at all friends with her I can tell you and the way in which she has treated you two girls has been simply abominable and sa everybody says I shall give her a piece of my mind about it one of these days Im not afraid of her valiantly Not I Esme sat over the slowly dying fire for more than an hour after her brother had retired strange thoughts and some very sad ones chasing each other through her brain So the old home such as it was was to be broken up at last and in one week well as -the wrench had come there was no use in prolonging the agony the sooner if was over the better She could not bear to think of Hatty Clipper ton of all people reigning among their household gods Hatty with her loud laugh her slangy ways her contempt for old fashioned things and people She would no doubt store all the Chippendale furniture the ancestors and the china and inaugurate blazing cretonnes and brilliant chromo Iithographs instead And how am I to tell Mrs Brabazon she said aloud brushing away the tears and rousing herself with an effort It is quite too fearful to think of I know I shall never sleep a wink to night To be continued To Set Before a liinjj Procure a pound of the large Im ported French chestnuts which are sold by the fruit venders Cover the nuts with boiling water to remove the shells Make a syrup in the propor tion of two thirds water and one third sugar and boil the chestnuts In the water until tender Take out the nuts from the syrup and peel off the skins Put into a granite basin a pound of the best granulated sugar and a cupful of water Stir gently until the sugar Is dissolved then remove the spcon When a little dropped into Ice water hardens and cracks take the syrup from the fire and put the basin contain ing it into another of boiling water Dip the nuts one by one into this syrup using a small skewer or knitting needle for this purpose and place them on a platter lined with parafflne paper These marrons glaces should be made just before using as they do not keep long Washington Star Insurance Ajainst illness Nearly S000000 persons in Germany are insured against illness One third of these reported illn3s in 18SS the average duration being seventeen days which taking the average wages at only GO cents a day means a loss of nearly 924000000 a year There Is a Difference Does your daughter play he piano She says she does but it sounda more to me as if she was working It Indianapolis Journal Dont despise the lowly The undea jaw does all the work - X F ONE COMMOK AIM Democracy Presents a United Front Against a Common Enemy Four years ago Mr Bryan amid scenes of great excitement and bitter ness was suddenly called to party lead ership This year he is summoned with deliberation and with unanimity to the same high place Four years ago his nomination was resisted by nearly a third qf the convention There were many bolters from the convention There was general dissensions among Democrats which led to open rupture and the assembling of a convention that put in the field alleged Democratic opposition candidates Now mark the difference There is no evidence any where within the organization of pro test or opposition The convention was unanimous and it was not a forced unanimity of elements hiding secret op position but of people who believed in the man and the cause he represents and whose agreement on a unanimous nomination was the most sincere act of their political lives The Chicago Chronicle which four years a go op posed Mr Bryan now joining In hearty and vigorous support of his election says It may be stated with emphasis that never in the history o the party has a Presidential candidate been placed in the field with greater unanim ity or with more genuine eordiality on the part of his supporters It Is plain therefore that Mr Bryan has been a growing man and impressed himself upon his party and upon the country His energy his zeal his sincerity can not be questioned even by his most im placable foes He is stronger to day Dont be frightened Willie Papa w a big life preserver papas got New than ever before He has a united party back of him which he had not in 1S96 Pittsburg Post Conquest If there is one principle more deeply written than any other in the mind of every American it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest Thomas Jefferson Conquest That is our object in the Philippines The Filipinos A people who gave up 50000 lives to win their independence from Spain and had beaten the Spanish soldiers back to Ma nila before Dewey entered the bay of Manila that morning in May 1898 Aguinaldo The trusted leader of the Filipinos A man imbued with the spir it of liberty familiar with the Declara tion of Independence and with the con stitution of the United States furnish ed with arms and used as an ally by Dewey believing all the time that the defeat of Spain by the United States meant independence not conquest for the Filipinos It was the devilish lust of conquest that made our administra tion our government play false to Aguinaldo and the Filipinos Neither our Declaration of Independ ence nor our constitution nor our tra ditions nor our form of government contemplate conquest which is neither more nor less than national piracy Helena Independent Another Civil War Shall the United States of America continue to be a free republic and the friend of free and struggling republics everywhere with equal privileges to all Or shall the United States become imperial in fact if not in form with special privileges for the few the denial of the consent of the govern ed military rule over subject peoples and unwarrantable corporate or trust exactions from our own people Shall we continue to stand upon the Declara tion of Independence and a strict con struction of the Constitution or are they to become forgotten documents in a new fashioned era of heavy arma ments great military budgets and vast military establishments to oppress the people of our colonies or in time per haps to overawe the people of our own land Republic or empire which That is the great question for the people to de termine It underlies and overshadows and exceeds in its vital importance all other Issues of this last year of the nineteenth century Albany Argus Nullification of a Doctrine Whenthe joint high commission fail ed to dispose of Canadas newly con- i awl l 1 eaSred and stubborn pitttenstona to ter ritory that would give her a seaport for her Yukon province at the expense of the integrity of our own coast line it was announced that Secretary Hay would take the controversy into hb own hands separating it from othw questions in dispute with the dominion This rumor of a provisional prelimin ary and temporary recession from our previously undisputed frontier is tbO first news from that quarter It looks like a proposition put forth tentatively in order to ascertain whether public interest is so much en grosed in the Presidential campaign In affairs in China and in other matters at home and abroad that it will either tolerate with indifference a surrender of territory or acquiesce submissively in a practical nullification of the Mon roe doctrine -New York Sun Hanlina Down the Flajr The United States did not acquire possession of Alaska by conquest from natives who wanted independence but by purchase from Russia Neverthe less our flag has been flying there for about thirty three years In the words of President McKinley Who shall haul it down President McKinley himself through bis Secretary of State has hauled down the American flag on a considerable strip of that territory He has done this at the instance of Great Britain The British flag never floated over this territory until Mr Mc Kinley hauled down the American flag When an impartial commission shall adjudge this territory to be outside the purchase which the United States made from Russia it will be time for the WILLIE AND HIS PAPA O ZsszsS bK ill look out for you and Teddy See what York Tournal President if duly authorized by Con gress to haul down the American flag Until such time hands off Mr McKin ley and Mr Hay Boston Post Maybnry a Strong Candidate The Democratic party has given the people of Michigan a gubernatorial candidate of the older school no brag no bluster no bossism no bluffing no intimidation no fake reforms If the people of the State are dissatisfied with the reckless and corrupt manner in which the affairs or the common wealth have been administered they have it in their own power to bring about a better state df things If they desire a government that is not the plaything of demagogues on the one hand and corporate interests on the other the opportunity is theirs They can find no fault with the candidate They can find no fault with the plat form on which he stands Detroit News Why Not Divide China If imperialism is a good thing why not now join with the other world powers in the partition of China We have much better reasons for seizing a slice of that empire than we had for taking the Philippines It is a larger field both for our trusts and for our missionary statesmen At the pres ent rate of progress the Filipinos will soon all be civilized that is to say dead but in China Hanna would have unlimited scope for Christianizing the heathen Columbus Ohio Press Post Out of Tliir Own Mouths Webster Davis has been accused of using some of President Garfields ut terances in addressing a Democratic meeting It is bad enough to condemn Republican doctrines without proving their error by quoting from the old leaders of the party Democrats should be forbidden to quote from Lincoln or Garfield Peoria Herald Transcript They Are Naturally Surprised That there were differences of opin ion and discussions as to policy at Kan sas City naturally excites the organs of the once free and independent Repub lican party in whose conventions Hanna no longer tolerates any discus sion Albany Argus Not Up to Date with Hanna To be sure it hurts the Hanna crowd to have such a garrulous lot of old granny Republicans as Lincoln Grant Garfield Sherman Edmunds Hoar Carpenter Seward and Stanton quoted in this campaign Omaha World-Herald - mammmmmm Z Ii -- - S SfcBZ JJ Z A RACEWARINOTHAM Veiceancc on c AncryMob Seeks York Nejzrocs In New York a mob VTwrfnSdS Wrfnesdoy 11 dock persons formed at icema night in front of the home of street seventh Robert J Thorpe Thirty and Ninth avenue to wreak ngeance the of that ffhborhood upon negroes the caused because one of their race had policemans death Thorpe was stabbed and bruised Sunday night by vewlne groes while he was attempting to arrest a colored woman The man who infixed said to be Robert is most of the injuries who came to New lork narris a negro several weeks ago from Washington - In a few moments the mob swelled to 1500 people or more and as they became violent the negroes fled in terror into any hiding place they could find The police reserves from four stations numbering 400 in all were called out The mob of white men which grew with great rapidity raged through the district and negroes regardless of age or indiscriminately attacked sex were Scores were injured It took the com bined efforts of the reserves with as many more policemen on regular patrol precincts to restore order duty in the four der Clubs were used until the police meD were almost exhausted Revolvers were emptied into the air and in one or two instances fired at the upper stories of the negro tenements from which the negroes defensively fired bricks paving stones and other missiles The trouble grew out of the death of Policeman Robert J Thorpe of the West Thirty seventh street station as the re sult of a murderous assault by a negro early Sunday in Eighth avenue and Forty-first street Thorpe was attempting to arrest a negress when Arthur Harris and another negro attacked the police man with razors He died th following day AMERICAN WRITES TO FILIPINO Correspondence Captured in Luzon Io Tade Public Letters and papers belonging to Agui naldo which were captured several months ago by Gen Funston have been made public by the War Department Someof these documents tend to substan tiate the charges that the Filipino insur gents have received encouragement from persons in the United States The most remarkable letter in the collection is from Dr Montague R Leverson dated Fort Hamilton N Y July 17 1S99 who de scribes himself as a member of the Anti Imperialist League and who advises the Filipinos to capture some official of high rank in the service of the United States and try him for piracy While1 it is said by officials of the administration that a charge of treason might be based on Ir Leversons letter a Washington corre spondent says no legal proceedings will be instituted Dr Montague R Leverson who wrote the letter declaring the United States to be guilty of piracy in its Philippine policy is still a resident of Fort Ham ilton from which place the missive was dated in 1899 ne is 70 years old and is a physician of English birth but is now a naturalized American citizen Dr Lev erson four years ago had an altercation in the union station at Albany with An thonv Comstock They later each sued the pther for libel Each recovered a verdict of J cents UNITED STATES LEADS ALL Got More Prizes than Any Other Nation at Paris Exposition The superior jury of the exposition of 1900 whose duty it is to give the final revision to the list of awards held its closing sittings on Monday when a com mittee of five was appointed to finish up the tag ends Prof J Howard Gore superintendent of the American juries is the only foreigner made a member of this exclusive committee The assist ant administrator general M Delauney Belleville on finding that the United States had more awards than any other country said to Prof Gore This is due simply to the fact that you had your July program thoroughly organized and were determined not to let any other nation get ahead of you not even us The United States- has been unique in this respect cssSrsX T vr Twenty new passenger entrines have been received by the Santa Fe Gompany The gross earnings of the Rock Island for the month of June amount to S1991 - 3ios A great increase in the traffic between Colorado common points and Chicago has been experienced during the last few weeks The State of Colorado has begun suit against the Pullman company for 11 0S3 claimed by the State as incorpora tion fees Contracts have been awarded by the Grand Trunk Company for the double tracking of its lines between Hamilton and Clifton Can A high traffic officer o the Great Northern road says his company will not nin the proposed transcontinental pas senger association Eastern roads are said to have agreed to raise the rate on soft coal 10 er cent and to be already looking for busi ness for iuxt season at the advancfrd rate The Santa Fe has placed an order fo 200 ballast cars to be used in the work of reducing grades A large number of steam shovels and unloaders have aKo been ordered The agreement of Western railroad presidents to maintain normal freight rates and harmony in the West has nl most been given up as a hopeless It is admitted that the agreements Xh were drawn up are of no value OiQcers of Western roads are tWnkn a great deal of plans to nrovpn tB robberies Collis P Hunting uL ident of the Southern was- of the opinion that the p Pany should place armed lTT mail trains la aU doing this V- w - ton figured that theTellofttT weuldlbe protected the train t r i r ll H 4