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e Queer Si

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RO SSORT WIT.- LIS was my - uncle,

him, for he practcally ived o Taboratory which he had ficted up for - himsclf, and was devoted o some mysterious expernments which were to hring

hime fame and fortune at the hands of

the Government. He allowed no one o cnter his laboratory except a0 confidential assistant, who was supposcd o share many of s scerets. For some time my unele had heen giving us o understand that he was perfectimg an immvention which he mtended to offer to the Government for an enormous st an meredible sum, which varied on different occasions from half o million (o five millions. e did not enlighten us as to the nature of the mvention : and, as we had not much bebiel e the results which he antic- pateds we were not sutficient!y curious Lo ask about it nay, il we had, he, being a very uncommunicative man, would probablv not have told us.

Besides, we had our own alfuirs to attend

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We saw very hitde of

e of 1 lungs,

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to. Ol Whllett's daughter. Phoehe, and my

brother John had o love affair to attend o andat required o good deal of attention by reason ol its not running smoothly @ for the Professor did not ke John, and was violently - opposed to marriage between Pheebe and him s and so. the matter

heeded much seercey, and smuggeling ol love-letters, and so forth. The case

scemed hopeless, however: for Phoebe was (i i her refusal Lo marry John i the face of her father's strong disapproval, and the lather was achale man, not likely o remove the difficulty by dyving.

Amy and 1 had o affair, which was un- troubled by the difficulty which Loy upon the other, and Amy and T had been cneaged for nearlv a vears Ay was old WilletCs other daughter zowy 7 That terrible word * was

It s the keynote of my whole story there's no present tense to i,

One of the Professor’s crazes was dress- santtation s he would have none of the all-woo svstem, norany other systenm save his own pet particular systen. This system consisted of o mixture of Vicuna wool and the fibre of some South American trailing plant: and the Professor was so persuaded of s bemg the on/v material inowhich man could dress him- seltand Tive, that he went toa wreat CNPense i importing the materials and having them woven mto stulls of various thicknesses and textures tor tunily use. He had a stock of this stufl: most ol his own clothes were made of 1tcas well as such of those worn by his wifc and daughters as he could persuade them to have fashioned from i, To tell the truth, these Tatter articles were not very numerous, as the stuffs were necessarily rather “dowdy” for —overwear : while, as underwear, they became impossible, cexcept to cover the