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[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] TOLD ON CHRISTMAS EVE. .0 BY hEBER K. DANIELS AUTHOR OF ".&[E AND JIM." HERE were few indeed, if any, among us who could have affirmed with sincerity that they really liked Ralph Temperley: although, on the other hand, had they been taxed, they would pro- Lably have given no: more valid reason for the fact than that he was tl tall, dark, and sinister-looking; which, of oourse, was no reason at all. Morally, there was nothing against the man that a hyper-fastidious person could possibly have objected to. He was a widower, rich, charitable, an indefatigable church-goer, and honoured his old mother with an amount of affectionate devotion that should have commended him favourably to any that thy days may be long in the land insurance company. Besides these qualifications, he was, as I've said, not only rich, but, as the owner of a large residenoe faoing the common, had acquired among us Undershotteans the reputation of being a very Locullus in the matter of recherche J entertainment. Personally, he seemed to pertain rather to that earlier portion of the century when men parted their hair in the middle and had fre- quent recourse to the adjectives genteel" and elegant" when it was necessary to describe such a person as Mr. Temperley him- self, for instance, who, with his glossy Dun- drearys," his dark curls, the tight-fitting, scamped-looking suit of all blaok,and the gloves and stook-shaped tie of the same hue, might have sauntered down Piccadilly in the thirties without his appearance giving the least occasion for sarcastic comment. Perhaps, it was this very air of old-world mystery, combined with his habitual reserve, that deterred so many of us from entering into closer companionship with him. It may bavp been i goodness only knows. But certain it was that when Mr. Tem- perley was seen coming down the terrace by acquaintances progressing in the opposite direction, it would not be the fault of the latter if they caught each other's eye and stopped to speak. And, yet, there was so much individuality in the man, apart from the fact that his inte- rest in local affairs was quietly paramount, that men felt themselves drawn, nolens volens, towards him by the sheer magnetism of that saturnine face, with its dark, penetrating eyes. When, therefore, Garbutt, myself, and Telfer, of the terrace, received an invitation to spend Christmas Eve with him and his sole surviving relative at Ravelin House, was it to be wondered at, in view of the foregoing, that we should have tossed up as to whether we should respond to it or not ? "The man's right enough in himself," said Garbutt, as lovely woman turned up and decided the point in the affirmative; "but it's that con founded Chamber of Horrors' look about him that I object to, especially at his time of the year. It ain't seasonable, to say the least." "That's so," assented Telfer, who, like Garbutt, was a candidate for the new vestry But we can't very well do without him, can we ? And, besides, his dinners are A 1 at Lloyd's. Shall I ever forget that last one we had. A-h-h-h!" The menu was certainly excellent," 1 re- marked, Yes, and so was the joint!" said Garbutt, who was a little shaky in his Frenoh, "And how about the liquor. Did you ever taste suoh body before in all your life? I never did." Body 1" said Telfer, with the air of a pro- fessional taster. I should think it had, considering it came direct from the Grand Chatroose Cemetery." Telfer, of course, meant monastery," but correction might have entailed coolness, which at that particular time of the year was icr^litic; go without another word we went to our respective homes and dressed, and in due time were announced at Uavelin House. The sole occupant of the large drawing- room into which we were ushered was the Mrs, Temperley before mentioned, a remark- able little old lady in green, with dark beady eyes and hook-shaped nose, who greeted us. silently, and, as we thought, somewhat aggressively, and then sat staring at us in a manner so bird-like with her little round eyes and beaky-shaped nose that, with her wrappings of green, she looked for all the world like some austere species of love-bird. Mr. Temperley, she presently condescended! to inform us, had not yet arrived from the City, She had never known him to be solate, before-except during the foggy weather— and couldn't account for it at all. This was far from comforting information for Garbutt and Telfer, who had been in training, as it were, for the -expected feast, and in conse- quence were in the last stages of hanger. And as the old lady wouldn't think of going on with the dinner until her dear boy arrived, they were seriously beginning to think about adjourning to the nearest coffee-shop, when Mr. Temperley's key was heard in the door, and presently he entered the room. He appeared to us, who knew his imper- turbable ways, to be in an unwonted state of excitement, though whiie greeting us he managed to get his feelings so under control that when he gave his arm to his mother and led the way to the dining-room be was enabled to say, without a quiver in his voioe 1 beg that you will excuse me, gentlemen, but I wa", unfortunately, detained on my way across the common. A fellow struck a woman his wife, so she said and as that offence is an unpardonable one in my eyes, I stopped to give him a drubbing. Never mind the parti- culars. I can't delay the dinner to dress now, I it fuel (It the horse's head with my stick. I mother, for yourself and my friends here must be already half-famisbed. Let us begin." Throughout the dinner he oarefully ab- stained from any mention of the recent fracas, and although he kept us engaged in conver- sation the whole of the time, it was noticeable that his mind was pre-occupied with some other matter, apparently of a gloomy nature, and when be spoke it was with a tinge of melancholy in his tone far deeper than any we had ever noticed before. With the disappearance of the old lady and the cloth and the advent of the nuts and witte he appeared suddenly to lose all know- ledge of his surroundings, and sat for some time with his elbows on the table and bis face clasped in his hands, utterly oblivious of the conversation that was be) ii c,, carried on behveen us; but presently, when Telfer called hisatten- I tion to the empty glass before him, he roused himself with an effort and observed, with a little bewildered stare of surprise "I am afraid, gentlemen, I have been a very inefficient host—in itself almost a crime, on this evening of all evenings in the year. Come!" And he rose from his seat. Let me make some amends for my remissness while the night is still young. We will go into the drawing-room, and there, over our coffee and cigars, we will emulate our juniors by telling one another stories until such time as we shall see the day come in. What do you say- shall I begin? By all means," said Garbutt, as we got up and followed our host into the adjoining room. And as we appear to have it all to ourselves —the good lady having, apparently, retired for the evening—you needn't be too par- tic'ler-Fire ahead!" And we disposed our- selves in the comfortable lounges around a blazing fire as our host, with hia eyes fixed upon the leaping flames, and his words addressed more to some absent person than to ourselves, began:— Strange to say, that little adventure that befell me to-night on my way home has re- called vividly to my mind anevent in my life that, happening though it did by a remarkable coincidence on this very night fifteen years ago, had so important an influ- ence on my subsequent actions that it will never be banished from my mind while it maintains its reason. I had been married then a little over a year, and was living with my dear wife in the neighbourhood of Westminster—a poor neighbourhood; for before my marriage I had quarrelled with my father, on whom I had depended for my living, and had flung myself on the tender mercies of a world not particu- larly noted for the kindly usage of its penni- less ones. The main cause of the rupture between us was my contemplated marriage with a woman whose only disqualification —a fatal one in his eyes—was her lack of fortune; but the estrangement had been accelerated by my own extravagant, not to say dissolute, habits, which had been making heavy inroads into even his substantial fortune. When, therefore, the inevitable moment arrived when my demands for money to honour my gambling debts met with a point- blank refusal, a terrible scene took place between us, when, blinded a I then was by my love for the gentle creature whose every word and look prompted me to better things, I flung his fortune in his teeth, and oast in my lot with the only person in the world whom I considered able to rescue me from moral and physical wreck. It was a selfish thing to do-se)flsh in its bearing towards h-gr-though it was soon fated to bring its certain consequences. The want of money—hitherto a novel experience with ine-iiistead of awakening me to a proper sense of the great danger in which I had placed both her and myself, served only to embitter me more than ever against the man whose every recent aot of kind- ness I now construed into preconcerted injury, And with the disappearance of the last few pounds I had scraped together and my unfailing want of success in obtaining that work which my idle habits had entirely disqualified me from undertaking, I plunged into heavier exoesses than any I had ever entered into before, with the result that soon our poor little home-even with her sweet presence to graoe it-became in my diseased condition of mind r, living hell. Oh if I had only known then wftat I have since learned by bitter ex- perieiu s (and whatever vour oeasimist mav say to the contrary) that the loyal affection of a true woman, when appreciated and re- turned in full, will transform the veriest garret into a palace, and furnish a relish to sweeten the hardest fare I" I don't think," continued Mr. Temperley, as he withdrew his eyes from the fireplace and fixed them appealingly upon mine, II that I could have been held morally responsible for my actions then. Looking back to them now, and remembering her unswerving faith in me, and her unflinching courage in facing the dangers that were fast hedging us on every side—bearing this in mind, 1 say, and re- calling the alight recognition, nay. even coolnesi, these qualities met with at my hands, I am led at times to believe that I must have been possessed of all the essentials of lunacy in its very worst form. "I will pass lightly over the period that followed on our state of complete bankruptcy, when, from abusing my still obdurate parent, my mother's pleas on my behalf notwith- standing, I fell to upbraiding my wife for being, as I told her, an additional cause of all the trouble that had befallen me, the bitter- ness of my words being intensified by the meek look of reproach with which she always regarded me on those occasions. When I reflect on what I said to her then, in all the wild incoherence of despair, I am only kept from dangerous despondency by the hope- vague though it be-that the whole may only have been the brain-haunting memories of some vivid dream, It was on that fateful Christmas Eve, just fifteen years ago, that the climax so dreaded, yet openly oourted, at last came. I bad been drinking deeply during the earlier part of the day, and when night began to come on I was in that condition of mind when it was danger- ous even to address me. I remember rising and potting on my hat and coat to go out, as I had so often done before, aimlessly and without oare as to whither I went, or, indeed, whether l should ever return. How poor the .room looked evei-yt hi ng that could possibly have been converted into money having long since disappeared, And yet how contented she seemed with her lot, sitting there smil- ingly and ever hopeful by the fire, while she decked the little potted Christmas tree with the gewgaws she had kept by her for these occasions ever since she had been a child. But the sight was gall to me and a feeling of bitter resentment—resentment against her that she should be happy when I was wretched—arose and became paramount within my breast. "1 can see her now," continued Mr. Temperley, in a voice that had dropped into a hoarse mutter, and gazing in- tently into the fire, "see her vividly, as she rises with a look of pained concern on her bright face, and comes towards me with her arms outstretched to stay my departure What! goipg away from me, lialph ?' I hear her say, as she puts her arms about my neck and holds me with loving tenacity. 'Surely, not to-night, dear! You promised me so faithfully you would stop with me this night! Oh you can't be so cruel as to leave me all alone, now No! no! no! dear!' she ories with great fervour, as she resists my efforts to remove her from me, and with her large tearful .eyes fixed so im- ploringly on mine. I I can't—I mUlltn't-let you go out in the condition you are in. Re- member, desr, the danger you will run should you attempt the crossing at the end of the street! Listen to me! Halph, I beseech you She stops suddenly, and recoils from me with a loud scream of horror continued Mr. Temperley, his voice reduced to a mere whisper now, as be takes the poker from the fireplace and clenches it until the veins stand out on his wrists and temples. I had raided my hand to her—just as that scoundrel did whom 1 struck to the earth this evening But the blow does not fall. No! thank God for that' The small leaven of humanity remain- i ing within me has prevailed, and, with a few muttered words of apology, I turn and leave the house. "it had been snowing heavily since early morning, and the night was bitterly cold, as, my brain in a whirl with liquor, and a feeling of intense hate in my breast towards all human- ity, I passed swiftly out into the crowded streets and turned my steps eastward. As imade my way blindly across the busy thoroughfare, about which I had been so often cautioned by my unhappy wife, I suddenly heard a loud yell of warning from the side- walks, and, looking up, saw a wagon bearing j rapidly, but noiselessly, down upon me through I the thick slush that lay on the streets. I recolleot the feeling of intense irritation that came over me when I saw the driver's angry face, and heard him curse my stupidity and impudence as I struck at the horse's head with my stick, before making a desperate effort to avoid the wheels and then, from the moment I found myself standing quietly on the footway, a wonderful change came over me, The throbbing in my brain had ceased, and my unstrung nerves bad steadied them- selves in that instant as if under the action of an opiate. But into my heart there had come instead a dull dragging pain, that seemed to quietly ebb my life away between eaoh thrusting pang. The terror of instant death now came upon me, and with the knowledge of my utter helplessness in view of a sudden collapse my thoughts instinctively went towards her at home, while a new feeling of sudden remorse began to struggle into my aching heart as I turned and retraced my Flteps homewards. Hurrying onwards, with my thoughts engaged in analysing these new emotions, and my eyes turned on the ground, I felt a hand touoh me gently on the arm, and on wheeling around L noticed the shawled figure of a woman running swiftly away in a direo- tion opposite to that which I was then going. Merciful heavens! how her form resembled that of my wife 1 A dreadful thought flashed in an instant across my mind, and caused me to make for the house with all the haste my tortured heart would admit of. Mv worst fears were speedily to be realised. The rooms were all empty—she g°ne T UM But on the table lay the paper that I dreaded to find. The ink upon it w#s?||M wet, and was running with her tears. 1 darling,' it said, you will no longer cause to reproach me with being a j you. When you have read these lines will be free to reconcile yourself with J^.1 father, and once more regain that happ, which, in the great love I bore for y°^U deprived you of. And, oh that you 81*5^ happy is the last prayer of one who thought that the day would come wheD^ also would hare to go the way her poor went. Farewell.—AGNES.' ) Her sister My God !-there could be bØ 1 one meaning—the bridge! I Rushing in mad haste out of the hoooo I seemed hardly to feel the ground under as I ran, with a speed that scarcely 8ee^| human, in the direction where I had seen last. The streets were now almost deser^; and the snow, which had re-comnieno^ fall in great blinding drifts, had covered i the footmarks on the pavements and all sound of traffic. j "How the great gnawing agony at # heart had increased as 1 struggled wildly with my eyes straining through the ting^ flakes, to catch a glimpse of her whom I "fj in the terrible revulsion of feeling, oheri1^. 11 1 above all that this world could give was only one fixed thought in my mrnd to the exclusion of all else, and that resolved itself into that one dread word-), bridge In the fever heat of caught myself repeating it aloud with f«»r« iteration, as I staggered onwards ttir-ough silow -occasional I i- slipping and falling oø always on wards, on wards, and in the direc11 of the river. j "Suddenly, within the light of a lamp, before me I saw a whitened figure from the snow, and make off rapidly in t ) same direction in which 1 was running- .f recognised it in a minute. It was my P hunted wife v I saw her stop for a second and turn face towards me, and as she recognised she screamed with terror and waved Back back for God's sake, go back!' We were nearingthe river now and gaining on her rapidly. How the snow clogged my steps Should I ever her? Agnes! Agnes! She heard my cry, and as she reached bridge she turned once again, and in her 1 saw such a look of frenzied purpose as dt0M the blood into my heart, and caused it for moment to stand still. u In another moment she had mounted parapet, and for the last time turned to j with that haunting cry and awful gestarC warning. > As 1 made one tremendous effort to her side I saw a constable spring out of shadow of the wall and grasp her dress. J,;I late! H.le tears it desperately from fingeri, and iu another second she gone J v- "As I lay in the snow, with all poerf motion gone from m", and hoping and Prooo, ing that the great pain, which was 0 01 beyond bearing, would speedily remove.^ from a world in which I had now nofuf'^ wish to remain, 1 heard the roar of and the sound of many footsteps crus&\j the snow, as a crowd of people, who been attracted by the chase, made their *L)i down towards the river bank. a last, despairing effort I endeavoured myself after them, in the wild hope they might have succeeded in taking out alive. jar J I- Vain hope I saw the excited clul dark figures down by the water's edge, ing over some object in their midst, guea&«d by theawe-»truck tones of their together with the few words which from them at intervals, words of sorro* sympathy, that all hope for her life hsd j As they saw me approach a strange> fell upon the crowd, and they fell back to the right and left, to make way for reach her side. And then, as with a yf of anguish I threw myself on my 1-tiees 00 her still figure, and now stooped !o press lips, now cold and stained with innd» i agony at my heart suddenly (1/ the e rlh appeared to rock viole,)1f under me, and as the crowd of faces melted away on all sides and lie, me with her alone f felt a pair of warO1 A touch my forehead, and awoke to find oly lying in bed, helpless and sore, with darling's great tender eyes gazing into and to hear her say, as she gently sino"1 my forehead: jf "Thank God! He sees and knows i" last. 1Iush! dear; you ttuemt speak" You have been very ill. t ( But what is this r Where am I moaned feebly, as I looked languidly A right and left and before me, and saw noW-p but rows upon rows of beds, with quiet drawn faces with anxious eyes resting ofle pillow. if 1 Ralph, dear,' she said quietl/^j' answer to my look of inquiry. It is 5 pital! Y"ou were run down at the cro'^l directly after you left me, and the went over your chest. They took you »jl here at once without letting me know "1 this morning, and you have been more or J, insensible up to the present moment. 1 know what yoo would say And 8beJ!V over and whispered the longed-for wor forgiveness in my ear, as our tears ot mingled on our cheeks. "rl "And it was a vision, after all," said j Temperley, as he fell back, pale and un8^ I in his chair, and looked around him *1 sigh of intense relief. A ghastly pio^jjt/ a possible reality had been enacted witbi0 brain in that awful interval when I hov j between life and eternity. tI{11 "From that moment up to that niofir day—five years ago—when she pasied peacefully in my arms, the lesson of previous night was never thrown awayo and whatever atonement there was ø "I power to make for the past, by unceasing cbll1 for her, whether in periods of joy or troll t you may be sure it was performed It willing and a grateful heart. With the news of my accident my relented, and seeing that my peniten ce io genuine, he put me into a City busin which I have remained until the present< "And now, gentlemen," added Mr-, jj$j perley, as ho arose from his chair I expression on his face that plainly showed$j he wished to be left alone to his medit*^1^ I yoa may possibly wonder why I have$ you so deeply into my confidence1 J. a subject of a purely domestic 111 Be assured that there is no denoe in the matter. As I have told you, so have I told it to others in order t it might go out to their friendso t" their friends' friends—yea, if possible, A/, great city itself—if only that a thong" j? j few might learn to value the terrible mof j what I have told you this night." As he spoke the sweet voices of a neigk^V I ing choir rose quietly on the night tender strains of a Christmas hymn, we saw him turn and gaze on her li^f. looking down at him from the wall, w expression so full of loving encourage00^ noted the tears that sprang into his the soft strains of the music rose and &' -J the dear night air. We stole from the quietly and reverently, and in another were making our way across the oold Cc' common with our faoes turned ■ home) ■