Weekly Mail

My Niece, Miss Crowe. The Twelfth of August! Never as loiiz as 1 live shall I forget the first Twelfth of August for which I was asked up to Scotland for grouse shoot- ing. lor a fortnight beforehand I was continually leading up to it, no matter whom I was talking to, or what we were talking about. Momhurg ? No I'm going up to Scot- land for the twelfth." "Thanks awfully, I should like to pay you a visit, but I'm going north for the grouse," and so on, as if it had been an annual occur- rence ever since I could remember. Instead of this I had never been to Scotland, I never seen a kilt on its native heather, and never made with a giuuau except on the -lining-room taMe. What wild spirits I was in as J bowled along in my hansom on the night of the 11th to catch the limited mail at Luston Station. There was the usual rush for places, and I had not thought of reserving a sleeping berth, so after wandering up and down the platform, unable to find a seat, I appealed to one of the porters, who showed me a third- class compartment with only one other occu- pant,and he said I should be more comfortable there, where I could lie down at full length, than in a crowded first-class carriage. So here I established myself with my gun-case under the seat. I scarcely glanced at my opposite neigh- bour. Some poor devil, I thought, who pro- bably did not even know it was the eve of the 12th. Then my eyes lit on something under his seat. Yes, it was—a gun-case. So he, too, was going up for the grouse; or, perhaps, he was only taking oharge of his master's gun. At all events, I was sufficiently interested in him to look him over. He was a man not in his very first youth, with short, black hair, thick black eyebrows, and a clean-shaved face. He wore spectacles and was reading the evening paper as he lay down at full length, wrapped in a long ulster, and with a shepherd's plaid over his knees. My eyes are rather weak at night, so, as I don't wear spectacles, I did not get a paper, and would have been glad to talk; but I never got beyond asking if my oompanion would mind the window being shut, and if he would have a weed, both of which questions he answered very civilly in a peculiarly deep voice. I have always prided myself on being able to judge by a person's speaking voice, and even his laugh, where his singing voice would be pitched, and from this man's voice in speaking, I should say he could Dot sing above E, or certainly not above F, and that only at a low piano. So thinking, I fell asleep, only waking up at Carlisle to stretch my legs. The man opposite had rolled him- self up in his plaid, pulled his deer-stalking cap ov r his eyes, and was sound asleep. Next morning I was awakened by hearing shouts of "Sturrling! Sturrling! Change here for Glenwurra." So up I jumped, seized my pre- cious gun-case, and left the train. My com- panion had gone before I was awake, but whether be had got out at Stirling or any other station I could not tell. It appears that there was suoh a heavy load of passengers that two trains had to be sent on, and as the first was just on the point of starting, and the next left in less than an hour. I decided to wait for the seoond. So I went into the refreshment-room, aiM bad a most exoellent breakfast of bannocks and butter and marmalade, ham and eggs and tea, the tea being the only weak point, Arrived at Glenwurra, I found my hostess, Mrs. Black, most kind and hospitable. She said that all the rest of the party had gone on to the hills, as it was expeoted that the rain would not keep of all day, but that I should easily find them if I followed the noise of the guns, and wibbing me "good sport," she sent me on my way rejoicing. How lovely the scenery was, with moun- tains of the deepest ultramarine blue in the distance, and all the moors covered with pink heather I How invigorating was the air, and how pure the atmosphere I soon came up to some of the sportsmen, who were all busy popping away at the grouse, which were ex- tremely wild. There were some very good shots out, and one of the best, I soon saw, was my companion of the train, who in spite of his speotaoles, was bagging his birds right and left, He was the only one of the party in a kilt and gaiters, and yet he had not in the least the look of a Highlander, I had always JtffiS te&thftUu Sfis&ssfisr* fey QfioJsaeya who knew no better, wore kilts on the 12th, and also that a kilt should reach no further than the point of the knees, whereas this man's came down to the oalves of his legs. I should like to have asked who he was, but so great was my envy of his skill that I would not call attention to him in any way. As for me, I could not hit a bird I At last one got a little nearer than the rest, and while flying slowly by I managed to knock it over, not hearing the ories of Graehin! Graehin!" from the various gillies; besides, how could I possibly know that greyhens were not to be shot before the 20th ? I was getting decidedly sulky, and as it was now steadily pouring and the birds were beooming wilder and wilder, at last, as the man in the kilt still continued to bag his birds, and I continued to miss, I said some- what spitefnlly to my neighbour—— Bad form, isn't it, wearing a kilt ?" Well—perhaps—rather," he drawled out, and then turhed away to fire a right and left shot. The rain bad been coming down in a deluge the whole afternoon, and every burn was swollen to ten times its normal size. We were obliged at last to give over shooting on account of the darkness, and handing our un- loaded guns to the gillies, we faced the storm and went homewards. There was a small river to be crossed, and this had so much increased in depth that we were literally obliged to sit down and wait till it partially subsided; then some of the gillies waded into what appeared to be afoaming and bottomless torrent, and as they all got safely over we were expected to follow. I must say, though not a coward, I did not enjoy the prospect of plunging into a certain grave, but as I could not well stay alone on the far side, I cautiously felt my way on the slippery stones, and had just reached the middle when 1 lost my footing, rolled over, and was borne away by the raging stream. Swim- mingwasan impossibility,thewavesturned one over and over, and I had almost lost con- sciousness when I felt myself seized by a strong and friendly arm and held near the shore, while several men hauled me to the bank. The water bad filled my lungs and I was breathless, but I opened my eyes to see who had saved me, and found it to be my travelling companion on the night before- the best shot in the company. I thanked him as cordially as I could under the circumstances, but he was already on his way home, and I was put, rather bruised and battered, into the only dog-cart, and sent to the lodge with the game. My bost and hostess were most kind, and ordered me straight to bed, where, they said, my dinner would be sent to me with a glass of boiling hot whisky toddy. It was very hrte before we came off the hills, so I was glad to escape a long dinner, and was soon fast asleep. I was waked from dreaming of my ducking by a very damp feeling about the legs. I put out my hand and found that the rain had pene- trated the roof of the lodge and was coming through on to my bed. I jumped up and tried to move by bed to a drier spot, but either it was unusually heavy or I was unusually stiff, for I could not stir it an inch; so I felt about for matche, which Icould not find, and then listened at the wall to hear who was in the next room. The lodge was a little one-storied iron house buiU out on the moors, and as the walls were only composed of a single thickness of iron, I could easily hear everything that took place in the next room. To my joy I recognised my rescuer, so I tapped at the wall, and called out:- "I say I It was most awfully good of yon, saving me from drowning to-day, but it seems I'm fated to bo drowned all the same, as the rain is pouring in on to my bed. It will be so awfully good of you if you'll bring me a light and help me to drag the bod out from tile waii to a drier plaoe." No answer, but a peal of laughter—female laughter—naif suppressed, came through the wall. I've put my foot in it jolly well this time, I thought as I modestly retired, barking my shin against the edge of the bath in the dark. "I have it—the bath!" I said, and dragging it aoross tb9 room I heaved it up on the bed, and getting in and resting it on my two shins I oomposed myself to sleep. Spat -spat-spat-spat-spat. Spat- spat — spat-spat-spat. What an infernal row the drops made as they foil into the empty bath at regular intervals f I tried to sleep, but it was hopeless, and I could think of nothing but the man who went mad from a single drop of water falling on his forehead once every minute. I really believe I should have fotlowed his example, had I not stuffed the end of the counterpane into the bath to deaden the sonnd, but, fortunately, that had tho desired effect, and I went off into a sound sleep again. I was awakened by the most fearful row I have ever heard. I thought the iron house had been struck by a thunderbolt, and that the whole roof had come crashing down on to me. I sat up and waved my arms about, speechless with horror; then as I became more conscious I found that the awful noise had been caused by my laige bath, which had rolled off the bed and was careering about the room on the carpetless boards. It was a certain relief, of course, to find that I had not been crushed by the falling ruins, but it was a long time before I slept again, and when at last I made my appearanoe, everyone else had left for the moors. Mrs. Black was more than kind and sympa- thetic, and sat with me during breakfast. She was so nice, in faot, that I thought 1 might venture to tell her about my asking the man next door to bring me a light. The man next door P What man ?'' Why, the one who came up in the train with me, that cbap who pulled me out of the river." But there's no man in the next room to yours, only ladies, two ladies. Yes, my niece, Miss Crowe, and my cousin Eleanor, Ah! here comes one of them 1" I turned to look at the doorway, and there stood a lady in a red silk blouse and short homespun skirt; yes, and there were the short black hair and bushy eyebrows, and the spectacles; there could be no mistake about it. Whether the handle came off my ooffee cup, or whether I broke it off, I don't know, but the whole of the boiling contents fell into my lap, and gave me a little time to recover my composure before Mrs. Blaok, turning to her niece, said: "Annie, I don't know if Mr. James has been ntroduoed to you yet, though you did fish him out of the river! Mr. James. let me introdace my niece, Miss Crowe I" During the whole of that day Miss Crowe devoted herself to me. I was really not up to following the others out shooting, and I had a much more enjoyable day at home. I found my companion most charming; she was unaffected, frank, well-informed, and, of coarse, well up in every kind of sport. She was not very young, but on that account was all the more attractive to me, and though so clever and accomplished, she entirely sup- pressed her own talents and tried to put me forward in every way. iShe was a woman wham to like at all was to like immensely, and at the end of a week of her companion- ship I found myself wishing that the week might be a month, and the month a lifetime. The end may be easily guesed-we mar- ried and though I suggested more feminine attire and longer hair, I was always proud to see my wife knoolt over a right-and-left on the 12th of August.-Fashion and Sport.

MAZAWATTEH TEAS are a household word iu Wal«9 TUsy ssml]

Re-paid in Full "Give me a trifle, sir, if it's only a few halfpence ? I haven't tasted food to-day I" It was a woman's voice, and the scene was Doncaster Moor on a St. Leger Day a few years back. I had just backed the winner and was getting my cash, when I heard those words spoken at my elbow. I turned round without any intention of taking notioe of such a haokneyed appeal, and saw a respeotably-dressed woman beside me- a woman about forty, with a care-worn, hag- gard face, and a desperate, hungry look in her dark eyes that told me she did not belong to the professional, whining beggar tribe. And as 1 looked the features seemed familiar to me. I noticed the colour rise in the pallid cheeks beneath my scrutiny, and twisting her shawl round her, she was turning away, when I stayed her, and putting my hand in my pocket rattled some silver while I was trying to call her features to mind, Suddenly the memory I sought flashed upon me: it Good God I you are John Leigh's wife," I said. At that name she tried to hurry off, but I stepped her. 11 Don't run away; I may be able to help you," I added, kindly. She hurried away out of the crowd, as though to hide her shame, and I followed until we reached a spot a little distance from the madding crowd. Of course I no longer had a doubt that she was my old pal's wife, who had often dispensed the hospitalities of an excellent table to me and others in as com- fortable a plain English home as I ever entered. Ah what a bright, pretty, cheerful woman she was then! How I could identify those haggard features with such a momory I can scarcely understand, "I know you now," she said, your name is Freeman. I would sooner have died than have begged of any one who knew me in the old days," and she burst into a passion of tears. "I am very glad that you did not know me, Mrs. Leigh," I said, soothingly. "Don't call me by that name," she interrupted, quickly. What name, then, do you bear now r" I inquired. Fifty," she answered, with a bitter laugh "a fresh one every week." But what in the name of heavea has brought you to such a condition. When I and John were friends he bad a capital appointment in the City. I have been away in America for several years, and have only been back a month or two. I have often thought of you and John, and it has long been in my mind to try and End you out. You are not a—a— widow ?" No," she answered in a tone that seemed to say would I were But what has brought you to this pass?" I asked. "Where is your husband f" She shook her head. After a while I wrung from her her sad story. Leigh had filled a place of great trust in a City bouse, and being a man of extrava- gant habits, had over-run the constable and embezzled his employer's money. He was prosecuted and condemned to two years' im- prisonment with hard labour. A proud man, who bad held bis head higher than his posi- tion warranted, he came out of Coldbath Fields a broken and degraded wretch, his cha- racter gone, and with no hope of regaining it. Plenty of men have gone through such an experience, and seeking pastures new, have rehabilitated themselves; but Leigh was not one of these; be considered himself an in- jured man, and from the hour that he was discharged from prison declared a vendetta against society. lie mixed himself up with a gang of sharpers and blacklegs, and soon earned for himself the reputation of being one of the most remorseless ruffians that ever haunted a racecourse. If he found a victim, he would never leave him while he had a coat to hit bttoh, aod liternlly *1.- poor wretch's distress. "I remained with him until I could sfand these horrors no longer, pursued the poor woman. I have striven to get work, to earn a crust for myself, but I am too well-known as his wife, and everybody shuusme. I came here to-day, famished, thinking I might meet him and, if he were in luck, get a trifle from him—though it is more probable I should get a blow. I cannot see him, and, driven to desperation, I begged of the first person I thought likely to listen tome; and now you know all." I had been very lucky that day, and 1 slipped a five-pound note into her hand, and, giving her an address to write to me in town, where I promised to see if I could not do something for her, ran away to escape her grateful outpourings and to back a horse I fancied for the next race. Never before or since did I have such a run of good for- tune on the Turf; nearly everything I backed won, and by four o'clook I had a pretty considerable sum about me, After getting a hasty dinner at one of the hotels 1 prepared to get off to catoh the ex- press train. As I was leaving the hotel a boy came up and thrust a piece of folded paper into my hand and immediately disappeared. It was soiled and torn; scrawled in almost illegible characters in pencil were the words, Beware of two men whom you will see follow you to the station-one wears a white hat, a very loud suit of tweed the other wears a blue and white spotted neckerchief without a collar, a black soft felt hat, and a shabby suit of black. Avoid getting into the same carriage with them.- S. LEIGH. Destroy this as soon as read." After reading this strange warning, I tore it up and looked about me, but no persons answering this description were in sight. As I had only just time to catch my train, I hurried on to the station, every now and then casting a look behind, and on arriving, glanced round the crowded platform, but with no better success. Now, those who are going on take your seats I" cried the guard; and [ sprang into an empty first and shut the door. The whistle shrieked, the train began to move, and I breathed more freely, when in an in- stant the door was wrenched open; I heard the porters shout Stand away there!" but, heedless of the cry, two men one after the other scrambled into the oarriage. One glance revealed to me that they exactly answered the description given in the letter. The man in the white hat had the appearanoe of a flashy bookmaker; but the other was as villainous a looking ruffian as ever I set eyes on; the lower part of his face was covered by a closely-clipped beard, his nose was broken and on one side, and he had lost the sight of one eye. If I had been nervous after reading that warning, my feelings may be imagined when I found it realised in such an ugly form, and at the risk of my limbs I would have jumped out of the train, but the intruders, though without seeming purposely to do so, blocked the door until the steam was up, and then placed themselves in such a position that prevented me making a com- munication with the guard, which was my next thought. Good evening, sir," said the man in the white hat, pleasaatly; I suppose you've been to the meeting F" I answered in the affirma- tive and he then began to talk about the events of the day in such an easy manner that I could hardly persuade myself that he could entertain evil designs. His companion, after civilly inquiring if I had any objection to amoke, lit a oigar, and. ensconsing himself in a oorner of the carriage, seemed to give himself up to meditation. At last, just as the conversation began to flag, the silent one ejaculated, What d'ye say to a game at < nap' just to pass the time away P" The oroDositioij oame quite at a to, to me. "These fellows are card sharpers," waff the thought that flashed through my mind, that is the meaning of the warning. Well, I can afford a few pounds, and I ought to be thankful it's nothing worse. So I consented at ones, with quite joyful alacrity. I have come in contact ia my time with a few manipulators of the pasteboard, but I never before or since played with such open cheats as these were; the veriest Juggins of twenty would have detected their trioks-if it oould be said they used any, for they coolly picked up the stakes whether they won or lost. I began to see through their plan now; it was to force a quarrel upon me. It was by this time quite dark, and the train was rushing through the black- ness of the night with fearful velocity. The weather, which had looked threatening when we left Doncaster, had set in very bad the rain was dashing against one side of the car- riage, and the distant thunder was rolling heavily, while now and again the lightning lit up the landscape with the vividness of sunlight. That these men meant robbery and murder I could no longer doubt; every time they gathered up the stakes they jeered in my face, but I was deter- mined not to be provoked, but to keep as cool as possible for the life-or- death struggle that must come sooner or later. Suddenlv, I know not why, my eyes were directed to one of the windows of the carriage and, pressed against the glass, in the momen- tary glare of the lightning, I saw a woman's face peering in upon us. In the highly- wrought state of my nerves I uttered a cry, and the cards dropped from my hand; at the same moment, I felt a pair of arms twined round my neck, and a handkerchief that gave forth a pungent odour of chloroform pressed against my nose and mouth. I was a strong man then, and struggled desperately, but, with all my watchfulness, I had been caught unawares and felt that my struggle was useless. It is no easy matter, however, to ohloroform a man against his will, and I heard one of the ruffians cry, By G—d! the train is slackening speed—what does it mean ? It's stopping I" At those words I gained new energy, and tearing myself out of their now relaxing grasp, uttered a wild cry for help. The next moment the train came to a standstill; the carriage door was opened,and theguard,with alantern in his hand, followed by a woman—Mrs. Leigh—entered. The two robbers made a rush to escape, the broken-nosed man struck the guard aside, and felling the unfortunate woman with a blow of his fist, leaped out into the darkness; but I hung on to his companion, and with the help of the official succeeded in securing him. By this time several other passengers, alarmed by the stoppage and the noise, were with us. Where is the woman? was my first in- quiry, for the ruffian had knocked her clean out of the carriage. The train had stopped in a spot where the line ran along bigh ground, and on either side was a precipitous bank at least fifty feet deep; at not we feared that she had rolled over this, but one of the passengers found her lying insensible on the extreme edge, with a fractured skull from the fall. It was impos- sible to delay the journey any longer, and we bad to do the best we could for the poor oreature until we arrived at King's-cross, whence she was at once despatched to the Gray's Inn-road Hospital. Next day the body of the ruffian who had escaped was found at the bottom of the bank, just where the train had stopped, with his neck broken. For some time poor Mrs. Leigh lay in the hospital hovering between life and death, but life, after a severe straggle, proved the conqueror. When she was con- valescent she explained to me how my reMM from the clutches of the assassins bad been accomplished. She had overheard their plan Jiatel v wi it tea ine s few lines o? warning. Not oontent with this, she had followed' their movements, and, seeing them enter the same carriage in whioh I sat, just succeeded in scrambling into another. I knew the exact spot, or thereabouts, where they intended to attack you, calculating that you would ltreak your neck by falling down the declivity. There were only two men in the oarriage with me, and they soon fell fast asleep. As we tp. proached the place I opened the door, crept out, and, making my way along the footboard by clinging to the handles of the doors and the sides of the carriages, reached the guard's \'an, told him what was going on, and persuaded him to stop the train. I have only to add that the man who met hitf fate, the fate he had designed far you, was my husband, John Leigh. Of course, I looked after the poor woman as soon as she was able to leave the hospital, for had she not saved my life, and for what little I had done for her, had she not repaid me in full,—Licensed Victuullevs Gazette.

A Gallant Gold-digger, iob Colonel S —, with whom we dined last night, told us a curious story. W hen he came out to Amerioa, nearly twenty-five years ago, he was asked to take charge of a young lady on a journey from the States, Miss T was exceedingly beautiful. After they started a Californian gold- digger got into the same car. He was a tall, rough-lookiug fellow, dreesed in the usual Western fashion, with buckskin shirt, and trousers with fringes down the seams, long boots, and a broad-brimmed hat. He was armed with a revolver, and a bowio. knife stuck into his belt. He sat down opposite Miss T-, and stared at her in a manner which greatly annoyed Colonels Several times during the journey he was an the point of getting up and expostulating As he expressed it, "it made my English blood boil to see the insolence of the fellow." Each time, however, Miss T. prevented his doing so by whispering to him to sit stiil—that it did not in the least matter to her. They got out at the next station the man followed them. On taking their seats again the Californian, with the air of a prince, took off his hat, and feeling in his pocket, brought out a large nugget of gold, which he threw into the lap of the astonished girl, saying, Heaven bless your pretty face it s the prettiest face I've ever Seen on God's earth. Keep that in remem- branoe of Jack and was gone,—From Impressions of a Tender Foot," I

Not the Brush he Expected, A hunting incident—a new wny of getting the brush. A huntsman having mot wittin vtry nasty fall with the hounds in the neighbourhood of Nantwich, a messenger was sent in hot hatte to the nearest house to ask for the loan of a brougham* The family being from home, a maid servant received the message and, having hastily obtained a carpet-broom, presented it to the astonished messenger lieing asked by her mistress after- wards what slle could have supposed it was wanted for, she said she didn't know. but she "t!«0U"hii| might be to rub down the 'orse I" °

THE Editor of the Medical Annual for 1890 points out that potash is largely used to add to the solubility of many of the Cocoas at present sold, but that, in marked contrast, MESSRS. Ojlosvut supply an allq., lutely pure Cocoa ot the highest quality and that the name CADBURY on any packet of Cocoa orX!hocolate ii a guaraneed of purity. Iá LITER COMYLAINTS-DR. King's Dandelion ancl Quinine Liver Pills, without Mercury, are a potent remedy; remove all Liver and Stomach Biliousness, Headaohe, Sickness, Slic«Wer Pains, Heart-^