Vo

anvthing and cverybody savs Tm on the look-out for an heiress— which appens not to be “UL, and 1f married you, cvervhody'd

say, “Ah, there ! T told you so!” Now, 1 \\ouldntmmd that for mysell; I'm a man and I could snap my fingers at bt T

mind it for vou, Persis, for I'm cnough i love with you to he VeTY, very jealous, m(hul for vour honour. 1 bear to think ])LOPIU should say, “There's that pretty American girl, Persis ]\Clnanct that was, yvou know ; .shc‘

thrown hersclf away upon that good-for- nothmg Irishman, Justin O'Byvrne, a regular

fortunc-hunter, who.s marricd her for her money.” So for your sake, Persis, I'd rather not ask you; I'd mthc leave you for some better man to marry.”

“But / wouldn't,” cricd

• Oh, Siv Justing you must helieve me.

must remember- =7

At that precise point, her head out of the called out rather lToudly :

“Why, Justin, what's keeping vou? The horses’ll cateh thun deaths of cold: and they were clipped this morning, Come hack at once, my dear boy. l)csul.s, you know, les conzenances !

“Allvight, Nora,” her brother answered - “T won't be a minute. We can't get them to answer this precious bell. 1 belicv it

aloud, Y ou

’Crsts

Mrs. Harrson put window and

don’t rng! But Tl try again, anvhow.” And half forgetting that his own words

weren't strictly true, for he hadn't vet tried, he pressed the knol with a vengeance,

• “Is that your room with the lwht burning,

Miss Remanct 27 he went on, in a fairly loud official voice, as the servant came to answer.

• The one with the balcony, T mean? Quite

Venetian, isn't it ? ]\cmmds onc of Romeo and Juhu But most convenient for a hurg- lary, too! Such nice low rails ! \lm(l vou ak(, good carc of the Remanet rubic s

“I don’t want to take care of them,” Persis answered, wiping her dim Cyes ]MSIII\ with her lace poc.]\ct-l andkerchicf, “if they make you feel as you say, Sir Justin. T don’t mind if they go. et the burglar take them !

And even as she spoke, the Maclure footman, immutable, sphinx-ike, opened the door for her.

IT. Prrsis sat Tong in her own room that night l)cfow she l)unm undressing. Her head was full of Sie justm and these myvsterious hints of s At Tast, however, she took her rubies off, and her pretty silk bodice. “I don't care for them at all,” she thought, with a gulp,

GRL 1D KDY

NOLLER Y. 379 il they keep from me the Tove of the ma Iel ke to marry.”

It was Tate before she el asleep ;. and when she did, her rest was troubled, She dreamt a great deal; in her dreams, Sir Tusting and dance music, and the rubics, and burglars were incongruously mingled. T make up for it, she slept late nest morning : and lLady \Tadmo let her slecp on, thml\mw she was probably wearied out with dancing the previous evening - as though any amount of excitement (ould CVer weary apretty American! - About ten o'clock she woke with astart. A vague feeling oppressed her that somebody had come in during the night and stolen her rubics. She rose lm.stlly

and went to her dressing-table to leok for them. The case was there all right - she

openeditand looked atit. Oh, ])l()])hL[l( soul! the rubies were gone, and the boy was o mpty ! Now, Dersis had honestly said the night before hc burglar might ke her mlms 1 he chose, and she w ouldn t mind the loss of

them. But that was last night, and the rubies hadn't then as yet been taken. This morning, somechow, things scemed quite

different. It would be on us all (espectally on politicians) il we must alwavs be hound by what we said yesterday., Persis was an American, and no American s in-

cnsible to the (hnms of pree lous stones ; s a savage taste which the | louropean nmm— grants scem to have inherited obliquely

from their Red Tndian predecessors. She rushed over to the bell and rang it with feminine violence. Tady Maclure’s maid

answered the summons, as usual. She a clever, demure-looking girl, l.ady \Iac]un s 3 and ,Pcrsis cried Lo her wildly, for the police at onee, and tell Sir overard my jewels are stolen ! ; she answered “Yes, miss,” with such sober acquicseence that Iusu who wi as Ameriean, and therefore a bundle of nerves, turned round and stared at her as o an incompre- hensible mystery. No Mahatma could have been more unmoved. She scemed quite Lo expect those rubies would he stolen, and o take no more notice of the incident than if Persis had told her she wanted hot water.

Lady Maclure, indeed, greatly prided her- sell on this cultivated imperturbability of Bertha's t she regarded it as the fine flower of Fanglish domestic service. But Persis was American, and saw things otherwise ; to her, the calm repose with which Bertha anwuad " Yes, miss o ocertainly, miss : T'll go and tell Sir Lverard, scemed nothing short of exasperating.

was this mard of