came a tapping As of some one gently rapping." and the mild-mannered Benedict informed the parson that at last, after a long wrestling of spirit, his "dear Jane" had consented to say 66 obey." But how that compromise was brought about, no one ever knew. I have often heard this same clergyman relate how, after a wedding-ceremony on one occasion, which occurred in his own parlor, the husband whispered to his brand-new bride, as they approached the door, "Mary, have you got any small change?" 66 The old Swedes' church in Philadelphia was the famous marrying-ground for nearly two hundred years to all the neighborhood and the churches in that vicinity. The recordbook of that venerable parish is teeming with marriages. There has to be an extension" made to that department in every new register. Notes and memoranda adorn the pages of the "wedding-columns" explanatory of the different couples. One clergyman kept a list of foreign sailors (with a wife very probably in every large port) and runaway countrygirls whom he had refused to unite in matrimony because of his suspicions, or because of the lateness of the hour, or of the absence of witnesses. Colored weddings have always a richly bumorous side. The colored race is a susceptible, imitative one, and when they are fine, as at weddings, they are generally superfine. A clergyman was called on upon one occasion to officiate at a colored wedding. "We assure, sah," said the gentlemanly darkey, "that this yere wedding, sah, is to be very appropos '-quite à la mode, sah." 6 "Very well," replied the clergyman, "I will try to do every thing in my power to gratify the wishes of the parties." So, after the dinner and dancing and supping was over, the groom's "best man "' called again on the minister, and left him a ten-dollar fee. "I hope every thing was as your friends desired it?" said the urbane clergyman. "Well, sah, to tell the truth, Mr. Johnson was a little disappointed," answered the groomsman. "Yes, sab-it wasn't that." "I adhered to the rubrics of the Church." "Yes, sah, that was all right." "I was punctual, and shook hands with the couple. What more could I do?" "Well, sab, Mr. Johnson he kind o' felt hurt, you see, because you didn't salute the bride!" I remember a friend who, in the early days of his ministry, was met by a couple, as he came out of church, who wanted to be married. He turned back to oblige the party, and found at the last that they made up their minds to drive off in their buggy to some other church. "But may I ask," he inquired of the man, "why you first ask me to marry you, and then change your minds in this way?" No answer came from the groom, but the young woman, lifting up the back curtain of the buggy, called out: "Well, you see, I hadn't got a look at the minister afore, and, to tell the truth, you're so young and innocentlike that I'm kind of feared you won't marry us right, and so I'd rather trust meself to some one who's done it a good many times, and is sure he knows how." MR. HENRY IRVING's Macbeth has generally met with adverse criticism from the London press. The following from the Daily News will give our readers a good idea of tenderness and of regretful remorse, which add so greatly to the beauty of these latter scenes, seemed indeed to miss some of their effect; but the final combat and death-struggle has probably never been equaled for picturesque force and intensity. There was nothing here of that mere dexterity of the practised swordsman which it was said gave to the acting of Edmund Kean in this scene somewhat the air of a fencing-master's lesson. It was widely different, too, from the grace of the actor's sword-play in the final scene of 'Hamlet.' There were no sickly fears or superstitious fancies in the savage cuts with which, striving desperately against the fates, he made aim again and again at his implacable foe. The words, 'Before my body I throw my warlike shield,' seemed to become invested with new force and meaning as the actor, casting away this useless incumbrance, grasped his huge sword-handle with both hands and hurled blows at his adversary with a blind fury which evidently tends to precipitate his fate. To pluck a dagger from a sheath and aim a dying blow at a foe, as Mr. Irving does here, is a detail of the actor's art common enough in itself; but in its suddenness, and in the quick and manifest subsidence of the effort as with outstretched arms the wounded man staggers and falls, it presented touches far beyond the reach of the more melodramatic actor. The effect upon the imagination of the entire audience could be felt." ACCORDING to a London journal, the “busy bee" of England has recently developed a remarkable taste. This model insect is said to "improve the shining hour" by devouring peaches, nectarines, and other rare fruits, the cultivation of which has been a source of anxious pleasure to the cottage-gardener throughout the spring and summer months. "The question is," says this journal," whether the bees or the peaches shall be disestablished; or whether the two cannot coexist. To cover the ripe fruit-unripe it will not be touched by the bees-with a thin curtain, which would exclude the ir truding insects, but would not cut off the access of air, and heat, and light, is an easy remedy which needs not be beyond the resources of any cottage - gardener, and would be a complete solution of the problem." We should judge that blossoms and flowers must have been few and poor ere the bees would have attempted a forage on fruit. Notices. SCIENTIFIC BOOK ́S.—Send 10 cents for General Catalogue of Works on Architecture, Astronomy, Chemistry, Engineering, Mechanics, Geology, Mathematics, etc. D. VAN NOSTRAND, Publisher, 23 Murray Street, New York. BINDING AND READING CASES.-Binding Cases for the volumes of APPLETONS' JOURNAL, in cloth, gilt back and side. Price, 75 cents each. Reading Cases, bound in half leather, $1.00. Either of the Cases mailed post-free to any address, on receipt of price. In ordering, pains should be taken to desigrate accurately whether a Reading Case or Binding Case is wanted. The trade supplied. D. APPLETON & Co., Publishers, New York. APPLETONS' JOURNAL is published weekly, price 10 cents per number, or $4.00 per annum, in advance (postage prepaid by the publishers). The design of the publishers and editors is to furnish a periodical of a high class, one which shall embrace a wide scope of topics, and afford the reader, in addition to an abundance of entertaining popular literature, a thorough survey of the progress of thought, the advance of the arts, and the doings in all branches of intellectual effort. Travel, adventure, exploration, natural history, social themes, the arts, fiction, literary reviews, current topics, will each have large place in its plan. The JOURNAL is also issued in MONTHLY PARTS; subscription price, $4.50 per annum, with postage prepaid. D. APPLETON & Co., Publishers, New York. MONTHLY PARTS OF APPLETONS' JOURNAL.—APPLETONS' JOURNAL is put up in Monthly Parts, sewed and trimmed. Two out of every three parts contain four weekly numbers; the third contains five weekly numbers. Price of parts containing four weekly numbers, 40 cents; of those containing five numbers, 50 cents. Subscription price per annum, $4.50. For sale by all booksellers and newsdealers D. APPLETON & Co., Publishers, 549 & 551 Broadway, New York. EARLY on the morning of the 15th of II. jects them daily to worse tortures from mosMarch we arrived at the missionary quitoes and ants, not to mention other stingstation of Cashiboya. ing insects and reptiles, than the severest penance that the Church of Rome ever inflicts upon her children in Europe. We visited the priory, and were most hospitably entertained by the padres. They were clothed in March 16th. This morning we visited Cashiboya, which is five miles back from the Ucayali, and near the shore of a lake, whose dark waters were teeming with fish, and covered with water-fowl. It is the lower of the two Franciscan missions established on the Ucayali. It was established after the desertion of Sarayacu; and, after our experience with the Indian population down below, it was truly refreshing to see what life and energy had been instilled by Padre Ignacio into his little congregation. We found here a fine church in state of construction. It is one hundred and forty feet long, by forty feet wide, and built of solid blocks of mud, whose dimensions are six by four by three feet, and the whole is of a character creditable to an experienced builder. The work is being performed by the Indians of the mission, and Funder the personal supervision of Padre Ignacio. He and his assistant, Padre Domingo, are monks of the order of St. Francis. Here, in voluntary exile, and among millions of stinging and biting insects, they are carrying out, both by teaching the Inlians and by a conformance to the dress of heir order, the vows that they have asSumed. Their dress, from its peculiarity, sub CONIBO INDIANS. their serge gowns, confined about the waist by a knotted cord. The crown of the head was cleanly shaven. By special permission from their order they are now allowed, while on the river, to wear sandals. Every thing that they gave us was manufactured by their own hands, viz.: cachaça, a very good wine made from oranges, and dulce, a kind of molasses made from sugar-cane. The coffee they pulled from a bush growing not three feet from the window. Padre Ignacio, who is at the head of the two missions, besides his other duties, is trying to arrange into some sort of form three or four Indian lan guages. The languages of which the old father is making a dictionary are those of the various Indian tribes on the river; the Inca, or Quichua, serving in its very corrupt form merely as a common medium of communication between the natives and the half-breed traders or visitors to that region. They had a very impressive service at church. During the performance not a whisper was heard; the men sat on one side, the women on the other. The sermon was dispensed with, we not being supposed to be edified with an harangue in Inca. The town consisted of about one hundred houses, and was clean to a nicety. The Indians were the happiest and most intelligent I had ever seen, and, after the service, several of them strolled into the priory to bring fowls, and to kiss the hands of the padres. About three P. M. we got back to the launch, and were spending a most tranquil Sunday evening, when a duck, sent by the devil, came into sight. The temptation had the desired effect; and, getting into a canoe, with a companion in the stern to steer, I started in pursuit. The bow of said canoe was almost immediately run into a South American hornets'-nest. All the hornets I had ever seen before weren't a circumstance to these. I had to take seventeen at a time, and it finally resulted in my having to take to the water.. However, we continued after the duck. When within good range, my friend stood up to perform with his Joe Manton; and the first thing he knew Joe Manton kicked him overboard. We returned, convinced that it was wrong to hunt on Sunday evening. Here four of our Indian crew, who had formerly wandered down from this place to Yquitos, could not resist the temptation to return to the flesh-pots of Egypt, or rather of the Amazon, and therefore deserted during the night. This caused quite a lengthy delay; and, although the padres used every exertion to get them to return, they were unsuccessful, the men having gone far back into the forest. March 19th.-Started at an early hour, taking along with us one of the padres, who wished to visit the station of Callaria above. He is a jovial companion. When he is not reading, or repeating his prayers, he is always laughing and talking agreeably, but the hottest dinner in the world would get cold during his grace. March 20th.-Passed, this morning, on the left bank, the mouth of the river Aguitea, a deep-looking stream, that has never yet been explored. It is said to extend up into a hilly country, and to be inhabited by cannibal tribes, that are very hostile. We hope to explore it on our return. Among the Indians, there is a rumor of gold being found on its head-waters. About six P. M. we commenced to go around a tremendous vuelta (bend in the river, somewhat like a horseshoe), and, a little after dark, dropped anchor at the mouth of a little quebrada, upon which is situated the little settlement of Callaria. student, speaking four or five languages, and March 24th.-All the surrounding country March 26th.-Anchored, about night, at a Conibo Indian settlement, two miles below the mouth of the river Pachitea. We have seen, during the last two days, hardly more than a few half submerged Indian huts, and these generally deserted by their inhabitants. The Conibos of this settlement are genuine specimens of the wild man of the forest, and this village is quite a large one for these wandering vagabonds. Although they have selected the highest point in the surrounding country for the site of their village, they are now living either in the tops of their houses, or else are floating about in canoes among the plantain-stalks, the water being some two feet over where the hearthstones are supposed to be. These Indians March 21st.-Started in the launch to go were in luck, having just killed quite a numup this quebrada to Callaria, but, after going ber of wild-hogs and armadilloes. Fortunatefour or five miles, we found the turns so shortly, they were disposed to sell them at a price that we had to abandon it, though the water in the channel of the stream and all through the surrounding forest was of a sufficient depth to float the Great Eastern. As soon as we came to anchor, several of the party started in a canoe for the village. Early the next morning, our dispensario, or steward, returned on board, bringing a note from one of the party, telling me to come up to the station; that one of the padres had a fiddle, and that there were lots of cachaça, wine, and other good things, at the priory, and he was having a splendid time. The condition and appearance of the dispensario, who had spent the night there, fully corroborated this statement. It was, however, too late in the day thought to be reasonable by our captain and I have forgotten to say how our little can- We have another curious character aboard in the capacity of cock. He is a wild Peruvian from the Pacific coast, and the most inveterate grumbler I ever heard. He informed us the other day (I suppose his proximity to the cannibals makes him sufficiently penitent to confess his sins) that on one occasion at sea they got into trouble and ate a Chilian boy. March 22d.-Cut some wood this morn ing; got under way at 1.13 P. M.; soon entered the mouth of the river Pachitea, where we had instructions to remain until joined by the larger steamer, having on board the remainder of the Hydrographical Commis sion, and which had been detained in Yqui. tos in consequence of having to undergo some slight repairs. Mouth of river Pachitea-latitude, 8° 43′ 30 south; longitude, 74° 32" 30' west of Greenwich. Distance from Yquitos, seven hundred and sixty five miles. Elevation above sea-level, 154.837 metres. Average current from Sarayacu to this point, three and one-tenth miles per hour. The banks here were low and under water, and we proceeded twelve miles up the river before we were able to land, the banks then being only two or three inches above the water; but, as the Pachitea had begun to fall, we deter mined to anchor, and immediately sent the crew on shore to clear away a place for the erection of a kitchen and for taking observa tions for latitude and longitude. We are now at the dividing-line between the hunting-grounds of the Conibo and Cashibo tribes of Indians. The former are cannibals, and inhabit both banks of the Pachitea. The latter are a powerful tribe that inhabits both banks of the Ucayali for a short distance above and a long distance below the mouth of the Pachitea. With the exception of not being cannibals, and having had occasional intercourse with the traders who come up the river in canoes, they are quite as barbarous as their neighbors. Two brothers, chiefs of the Conibo tribe, known as Pedro and Cle mente, reside a few miles above the mouth of the Pachitea. On account of their near vicinity to the Cashibos, it is necessary that they should keep a strong force about them. Clemente, who seemed to have the stronger will of the two, soon boarded us with quite a number of his retainers. The young bloods were gotten up in the finest style imaginable. They wore bracelets of beads and monkeys' teeth, and many strands of the same (with the addition of a necklace of alligators' teeth) about their necks. Pendent from the nose was worn an ornament of silver made of a coin beaten out thin until about an inch and a half in diameter, worth originally about forty cents. Another singular custom, which they seemed to consider ornamental, was this: A hole was made in the lower lip, entirely through to the teeth, in which was inserted a wooden pin, nearly half an inch in diameter, and projecting an inch and a half from the face. They were all clad in their cushmans, or toga-like gowns, with the exception of one fellow who possessed a pair of trousers of which he was extremely proud, and which, for fear of getting wet in his canoe, he brought along under his arm, and, after the salutations were over, proceeded to put on in our cabin. As we are now on the border of a cannibal country, we keep a sharp lookout. A few years ago two Peruvian officers were killed and eaten at a point about eight miles above here. There are not many mosquitoes tonight, and we are watching with great anxiety to see if their non-appearance is due to their not being here or to their not having found us out. April 5th.-Have been waiting here nearly a week. The number of mosquitoes and sand-flies surpasses any thing in that line that we have seen before. Our captain tells us that there is a Peruvian proverb to this effect: "The Ucayali River is only fit as a place of banishment for a man who has killed his mother." In order to kill time, we tried hunting; but this we found hardly paid. The best hunting-ground in the vicinity is a narrow point of land lying between the mouth of the Pachitea and the river Ucayali. This the water had just receded from, leaving an immense area of blue mud interspersed with numerous shallow ponds and lakes. The forest and undergrowth were very thick all over this tract. This was our manner of hunting: We took an Indian guide, who would go before, and, as he walked, cut right and left among the tangled undergrowth and vines with a huge knife, thus making a trail for us to follow, and giving us a thread by which to return. These Indians never enter the forest without making a trail, and are so expert that they can lop away all opposing vines and bushes as fast as a man cares to walk. As you proceed, following up the track of some large animal which you are destined, nine times out of ten, never to see, the perspiration is streaming from every pore. The mosquitoes are holding high carnival over you, as your hands are occupied in keeping briers and spider-webs out of your eyes, and in pulling thorns out of your feet. Your head every now and then comes in contact with a hornets'-nest, and there is a constant shower of red-ants from the trees above. Every few minutes you will see your guide make a hop, skip, and a jump, and find that he is going over a migrating colony of big black ants. There was certainly a considerable quantity of game in the country, for we found numerous tracks of tapirs, jaguars, ronsokos, and of a species of small red deer, but could meet with very few of these animals in the daytime. After enduring this torture on six different occasions, I summed up the damage I had done to South American game, and found I had killed one wild-hog, One parrot, one eagle, six monkeys, captured two tortoises, and wounded a jaguar. I concluded it was more entertaining to stay on board the vessel and shoot at alligators. April 8th.-The monotony of the day is only broken by the arrival, every hour, of the Conibo canoes bringing wood. Old Clemente has undertaken to place fifteen hundred sticks here for us, making us, however, pay for half of it in advance; and his warriors seemed quite expert in the use of the axe. April 9th.-Last night all the axes used for cutting wood, and gotten from the launch by Clemente's men, were returned to us, and they informed us that they would not cut any more for several days. We inquired the cause, and found that they were going on a war expedition against the Cashibos. They go on these forays every two or three months. These, with fishing and hunting, are the legitimate and sole occupations of their lives. Clemente, who has the worst face I ever saw, goes in command of the Conibos. He possesses an old gun, that he had somehow obtained; and, for several days, he has been trying to get three loads of powder from us, which, he said, would serve him. He and his whole tribe are as cruel and superstitious as possible. It is reported that, a short while ago, Clemente had ten Cashibo captives put to death, because one of his relatives died. Also it is a custom among them, if one of the tribe dies, to burn his house, cut up his canoe, kill his slaves, and utterly destroy every thing that had belonged to him, except his wife, thinking them all bewitched. April 10th.-Several of the canoes belonging to the war-party stopped alongside of us, as they repaired to the place of rendezvous. They had the war-paint on thick; in the bottom of each canoe was a splendid assortment of bows, arrows, and war-clubs, all carefully covered up to keep off the rain. On these expeditions they carry a supply of masato, and, it is said, can subsist on it alone for several days. young to an enormous proportion, and ultimately results in death, unless the habit is abandoned. There is a wall of mud in Yquitos, the top presenting a very uneven and gapped appearance, and this is pointed out to the stranger as one of the wonders of the place, its irregular appearance being due to its being eaten out by the women and children. It is a well-vouched-for fact that two Indian boys, on board a Peruvian steamer on the Marañon, who were never allowed by the captain to go on shore, to prevent their eating earth, ate up two huge earthen jars, such as are used in these countries to keep water cool, and which had been put in charge of these cabin-boys until needed. May 12th.-No steamer yet; but this morning, when we went ashore to spend the day, as usual, in our hammocks, which we had swung in the old chief's shanty, we found the Indians bustling around more than was usual in their preparations for hunting and fishing; and they at once volunteered the information that the steamer Tambo would be here in a few days. They said that during the night the birds had told them so; and the old chief even declared that he had heard the paddles. They assured us that, days before our arrival in the launch, they knew, by the cries of the birds, we were coming. We truly hoped they might be right, and accounted for it in this way: i. e., a steamer is a thing so uncommon on the Upper Ucayali that the water-fowl is very much frightened by it, and flies away, and, as a water-bird keeps to the water-course, it flies in advance of the steamer. The Indian, who is familiar with the cry and speed of every bird, notices that both are unusual, and makes a very safe surmise; viz., that something unusual is coming up the river, and that that something must be a steamer. It remained to be seen whether they were true prophets. NELSON B. NOLAND (Civil Engineer of the Hydrographical Commission of the Peruvian Amazon and its Tributaries). A NOVEL April 18th.-The water being sufficiently low to give us a good landing, we went back down the Pachitea, and anchored two miles from its mouth, at the Conibo settlement on the Ucayali, before mentioned. We could not account for the delay of the other steamer, but would have to remain here until she THE LITTLE JOANNA. arrived, or our provisions were exhausted. Our only amusement was to watch these dirty devils make their women work, while they themselves sat serenely down and whittled their bows and arrows. In this settlement there are, at least, some hundred men, women, and children; and, of this number, I was surprised to find that not more than one-third were born Conibos. The rest belonged to different tribes, and had been captured, at various times, and made slaves and wives of. April 25th.-José, our little cannibal boy, has been undergoing punishment to-day for eating a brick. He is not allowed to go on shore, to prevent his eating earth; and to-day he was detected eating a soft brick, with which he had been instructed to clean the knives. The Indian children of this part of the country have a great craving for earth, and those who are not killed by eating it when young, retain the love for it after arriving at the age of puberty. It has the effect of swelling out the stomachs of the BY КАМ ВА THORPE. CHAPTER XXVII. SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT FROM MOSS ROSE-BUDS. POOR little Joanna, in consequence of Anita's revelations, began now to be pos sessed by a dire foreboding of trouble. She could not endure to have her sister out of her sight, and the espionage she exercised over her was a source of exquisite amusement to Anita, who was as gay as if she had not a care in the world. Yet the charadeparty had not lost all attractions for Joanna; she still looked forward to it eagerly, and was always ready to carry notes between Anita and Mrs. Carl Tomkins. Nevertheless, as the happy time drew near, Joanna's vague anxiety about her sister increased, and, in addition to this, she was haunted by the presentiment, growing, perhaps, out of the very eagerness of anticipation, that she was never to wear the beautiful dress Lebrun sent home two days before the appointed evening. It hung in the large, old-fashioned wardrobe in the hall, and many times a day did Joanna go to inspect it, with a sad longing in her eyes. "Joanna, I do wish you wouldn't look 80," said Miss Basil, querulously, quite at a loss for an epithet. "I should like to see you take some satisfaction in the trouble your aunt has been at to please you." With all her insensibility to the vanities of dress, Miss Basil was not insensible to the praise Miss Hawkesby had bestowed upon Joanna's training, and she had a very natural anxiety to maintain the good impression her faithful care had made upon the discriminating old lady. 66 "Mela," said Joanna, with a caressing touch of the foam-like frills and flounces, "I know in my heart that I am not ungrateful; but something will happen, you'll see. I shall never wear this dress." It was now the morning of the day appointed for the charadeparty. "Nonsense!" said Miss Basil; "your system is out of order, Joanna; I knew just how it would be when you took to running about in this July sun. All the Griswolds are down with chills, and I do suspect that is what is the matter with you. Let me feel your nose, child." "Oh, please don't, 'Mela," said Joanna, whose nose always indignantly resented this mus probandi. "I did but go three times with Anita's notes; and I'm just as well as ever I was in my life. But I have a-presentiment. I suppose it's all a punishment for my devotion to the pomps and vanities, 'Mela, that I feel in my heart I shall never wear this dress." "What is the matter with the dress, child?" said old Miss Hawkesby, coming into the hall just in time to hear this last sentence. "Doesn't it fit?" "There is nothing in the world the matter with the dress, but I am sorry to say that Joanna is whimsical," said Miss Basil, in a deeply-injured tone. "It is the way of girls," said Miss Hawkesby, imperturbably. "Indeed, I am not whimsical, aunt," said Joanna; "and as to the dress, it is heavenly; but a fear possesses me that I shall never wear it. Do you not see that it is clouding up for a storm? The charade-party will have to be given up." "Pooh! pooh!" said old Miss Hawkesby. 'Middleborough is too desperately dull to submit to such a misfortune. Why, Anita is gone to the rehearsal, you know, in spite of the clouds. The storm will blow over, doubtless-" "We are needing rain sadly, though," sighed Miss Basil, parenthetically. "And if it should rain, other days will dawn. Depend upon it, Middleborough is not going to give up the charades. However, your dress does not suit me perfectly, Joanna; it needs something more; and if Mrs. Basil will allow me the carriage, I will drive in to Lebrun's, and buy some moss-rose-buds I was looking at. Your dress needs just that for finish." If any thing could revive Joanna's drooping spirits, it was an announcement like this. "I do believe it will blow over, 'Mela," said she, leaning out of the window to study the angry sky. "And I'll go this moment to ask the grandmamma about the carriage." "But you are not to go into town, remember, Joanna; Miss Hawkesby will excuse you, I know. Your system is evidently disordered, and I can't have you run the risk of bringing on a bilious attack by any overexertion. The party to-night will be more than enough for you in the present condition of your system-" "Oh, never mind my system, Pamela!" cried Joanna, ungratefully. "I won't go into town, if you say not; but don't begin to talk about a bilious attack; you know I never did have one." "I don't know," said Miss Basil; "depression of spirits is a pretty sure sign." "But, indeed, my spirits are not depressed," said Joanna, as she ran downstairs to seek Mrs. Basil. "Nobody that expects to wear moss-rose-buds can be depressed in spirits." Now, a rumor had reached Basilwood that morning that Mrs. Stargold was alarmingly ill, and, under the circumstances, Mrs. Basil felt it to be her duty to drive over and inquire about her cousin Elizabeth; and she very obligingly consented to go a little out of her way in order to leave Miss Hawkesby at Lebrun's, promising to send the carriage back for her. . . . Joanna was not the only person that watched the clouds that morning, as may be readily inferred, considering how many were interested in the charade-party; but, without any special interest in charades, Mrs. Ruffner was anxious to persuade herself that the clouds did not portend rain. "Jane," said she, after their late breakfast, "I begin to believe that it will not rain." "It looks very threatening," said Miss Ruffner. "Oh, looks are nothing, you know; and 7 don't believe that Cousin Elizabeth is so very ill; it's merely excitement. Those everlasting papers Mr. Redmond brought for her to look over, they just keep her in a constant fret about business." "I think so myself," said Miss Ruffner, sourly. "It is all nerves with Cousin Elizabeth-but one dares not say so." "Dr. Garnet says so," replied Mrs. Ruffner, with satisfaction. "He should not be encouraged to express his opinion so freely," replied Miss Ruffner, quickly. "The best thing he could do for her would be to forbid positively all worry about business. She ought not even to see those papers, and, if I could have my way, she shouldn't." of exercise. It's a fine cloudy morning for a walk, and I'll just run in to Lebrun's and exchange that belt-buckle, since you don't like it, and, if it should rain, just send the carriage for me." When Miss Hawkesby arrived at Lebrun's, Mrs. Ruffner was in the back-room enjoying the only refreshment Middleborough afforded her. It was the work of but a few moments to exchange the buckle with the obnoxious device of the Cupid and rose-bud for another with a pair of clasped hands fig. ured thereon; but Mrs. Ruffner could always spare time to listen to those interesting items which Miss Crane detailed with that flavor of mystery so irresistible to a speculative mind, and Miss Crane, who loved an appreci ative listener, could have talked by the hour, but that the claims of business forbade; and even the claims of business she had been known to neglect for the sake of gossip -conversation, she called it. There was no one, therefore, to wait upon Miss Hawkesby, except the slow and awkward lass of fifteen whom all Middleborough agreed in condemning, and who now looked in vain from box to box for the moss-rose-buds, while Miss Crane, in the back-room, was telling to Mrs. Ruffner all that she knew, and a good deal that she did not know. Old Miss Hawkesby, by no means the most amiable of women, lost her temper at last, and spoke her mind pretty freely about incompetent clerks; but, in the midst of her tirade, Mrs. Basil entered, and created a momentary diversion. Mrs. Basil was in no good humor herself, as was evident from the emphasis with which she carried her ivory-headed staff. "How did you find Mrs. Stargold?" asked Miss Hawkesby, turning her back the upon array of artificial flowers, among which not a rose-bud could be found. "I did not see Mrs. Stargold," said Mrs. Basil, indignantly. "I rarely ever see her. I have good reason to suppose that she knows nothing of my attentions; but I am supported by a consciousness of having per formed my duty. Still, it would have been a consolation, in this, my cousin's last illnessit would have been a great consolation to have had an interview with her." "Last illness!" repeated Miss Hawkesby. "Oh, my dear madam, I don't believe any thing of the kind. Mrs. Stargold is not go ing to die yet, I hope! Why, she is only a year older than I am."-Then, turning suddenly upon the bewildered incompetent behind the counter, she said, fiercely: "Will you have the goodness to desire some one else to attend upon me?" Whereupon, the girl, poor thing, started into a sort of galvan ized haste, opened the glass door leading into the back-room, whence issued these words: "Depend upon it, ma'am, there is truth in this I tell you. All these years we've looked upon Miss Basi!—yes, Sarah, in a moment; nobody of consequence this cloudy morningbut I always had my doubts of a woman that could not be persuaded into the fashion of the day. Shut the door, will you, girl?—For all she's kept herself so secluded, the mystery will out, like a thunder-bolt, some day." Mrs. Basil looked at Miss Hawkesby in |