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You see how they treat me. I cannot go to | tly,

-as softly as was possible to her, and

them, and they never come to me; -ex- went slowly into the other room. When cept when that woman comes to scold." "But they can't belong to uncle." "Of course they don't."

"Then why should he keep them? What good can they do him? When I spoke to Ziska, Ziska said they should be kept, because Trendellsohn is a Jew; but surely a Jew has a right to his own. We at any rate ought to do what we can for him, Jew as he is, since he lets us live in his house."

The slight touch of irony which Nina had thrown into her voice when she spoke of what was due to her lover even though he was a Jew was not lost upon her father. "Of course you would take his part against a Christian," he said.

"I take no one's part against any one," said she," except so far as right is concerned. If we take a Jew's money I think we should give him the thing which he purchases." "Who is keeping him from it?" said Balatka, angrily.

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Well; I suppose it is my uncle," replied Nina.

Why cannot you let me be at peace

then?"

Having so said he turned himself round to the wall, and Nina felt herself to be in a worse position than ever. There was nothing now for her but to take the key; or else to tell her lover that she would not obey him. There could be no further hope in diplomacy. She had just resolved that she could not take the key that in spite of her promise she could not bring herself to treat her father after such fashion as that when the old man turned suddenly round upon her again, and went back to the subject.

"I have got a letter somewhere from Karil Zamenoy," said he, "telling me that the deed is in his own chest."

"Have you, father?" said she, anxiously, but struggling to repress her anxiety.

there she unlocked the desk and took out
the bundle of letters tied with an old
tape which lay at the top ready to her
hand. Then she collected together the
other papers, which were not many, and
without looking at them carried them to
her father. She studiously avoided any
scrutiny of what there might be, even by so
much as a glance of her eye.
"This seems
to be all there is, father, except one or two
old account-books."

He took the bundle, and with feeble
hands untied the tape and moved the docu-
ments, one by one.
Nina felt that she was
fully warranted in looking at them now,
as her father was in fact showing them to
her. In this way she would be able to give
evidence in his favour without having had
recourse to any ignoble practice. The old
man moved every paper in the bundle, and
she could see that they were all letters.
She had understood that the deed for which

Trendellsohn had desired her to search was written on a larger paper than any she now saw, and that she might thus know it at once. There was, certainly, no such deed among the papers which her father slowly turned over, and which he slowly proceeded to tie up again with the old tape. "I am sure I saw it the other day," he said, fingering among the loose papers while Nina looked on with anxious eyes. Then at last he found the letter from Karil Zamenoy, and having read it himself, gave it her to read. It was dated seven or eight years back, at a time when Balatka was only on his way to ruin not absolutely ruined, as was the case with him now-and contained an offer on Zamenoy's part to give safe custody to certain do uments which were named, and among which the deed now sought for stood first.

"And has he got all those other papers?" Nina asked.

"No! he has none of them, unless he has this. There is nothing left but this one that the Jew wants."

"And uncle Karil has never given that

"Never."

"And it should belong to Stephen Trendellshon?"

"I had it, I know. It was written ever so long ago before I had settled, with the Trendellsohns; but I have seen it often since. Take the key and unlock the desk, and bring me the bundle of papers that are tied with an old tape; or-stop-back?" bring me all the papers." With trembling hand Nina took the key. She was now desired by her father to do exactly that which her lover wished her to have done; or, better still, her father was about to do the thing himself. She would at any rate have positive proof that the paper was not in her father's desk. He had desired her to bring all the papers, so that there would be no doubt left. She took the key very gen-it?

"Yes, I suppose it should."

"Who can wonder, then, that they should be anxious and inquire after it, and make a noise about it? Will not the law make uncle Karil give it up?"

"How can the law prove that he has got I know nothing about the law. Put

them all back again." Then Nina replaced ceipt for the sum he lent her.
the papers, and locked the desk. She had,
at any rate, been absolutely and entirely
successful in her diplomacy, and would be
able to assure Anton Trendellsohn, of her
own knowledge, that that which he sought
was not in her father's keeping.

On the same day she went out to sell her necklace. She waited till it was nearly dark till the first dusk of evening had come upon the street, and then she crossed the bridge, and hurried to a jeweller's shop in the Grosser Ring which she had often observed, and at which she knew such trinkets as hers were customarily purchased. The Grosser Ring is an open space-such as we call a square in the oldest part of the town, and in it stand the Town Hall and the Theinkirche - which may be regarded as the most special church in Prague, as there for many years were taught the doctrines of Huss, the great Reformer of Bohemia. Here, in the Grosser Ring, there was generally a crowd of an evening, as Nina knew, and she thought that she could go in and out of the jeweller's shop without observation. She believed that she might be able to borrow money on her treasure, leaving it as a deposit; and this, if possible, she would do. There were regular pawnbrokers in the town, by whom no questions would be made, who, of course, would lend her money in the ordinary way of their trade; but she believed that such people would advance to her but a very small portion of the value of her necklace; and then, if, as would be too probable, she could not redeem it, the necklace would be gone, and gone without a price!

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It was more than Nina had expected, and she rejoiced that she had so well completed her business. Nevertheless she wished that the jeweller had known nothing of her aunt. She was hardly out of the shop before she met her cousin Ziska, and she so met him that she could not escape him. She heard his voice, indeed, almost as soon as she recognised him, and had stopped at his summons before she had calculated whether it might not be better to run away. "What, Nina, is that you?” said Ziska, taking her hand before she knew how to refuse it to him.

"Yes; it is I," said Nina.

"What are you doing here?"

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They say that Anton Trendellshon, the Jew, gives you all that you want," said Ziska

"Then they say lies," said Nina, her eyes flashing fire upon her Christian lover through the gloom of the evening. "Who says so? You say so. No one else would be mean enough to be so false."

"All Prague says so."

Yes, it is my own. altogether my own my very own." She had to explain all the "All Prague! I know what that means. circumstances to the jeweller, and at last And did all Prague go to the Jews' quarter with a view of quelling any suspicion, she last Saturday, to tell Anton Trendellshon told the jeweller what was her name, and that the paper which he wants, and which explained how poor were he circumstances is his own, was in father's keeping? Was of her house. "But you must be the niece it all Prague told that falsehood also?" of Madame Zamenoy, in the Windberg- There was a scorn in her face as she spoke gasse," said the jeweller. And then, when Nina with hesitation acknowledged that such was the case, the man asked her why she did not go to her rich aunt, instead of selling a trinket which must be so valuable.

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which distressed Ziska greatly, but which he did not know how to meet or how to answer. He wanted to be brave before her; and he wanted also to show his affection for her, if only he knew how to do so, without making himself humble in her presence.

"Shall I tell you, Nina, why I went to the Jews' quarter on Saturday?"

"No; tell me nothing. I wish to hear nothing from you. I know enough without your telling me."

"I wish to save you if it be possible, because — - because I love you."

"And I — I never wish to see you again,

because I hate you. I hate you, because you have been cruel. But let me tell you this; poor as we are, I have never taken a farthing of Anton's money. When I am his wife, as I hope to be as I hope to be -I will take what he gives me as though it came from heaven. From you! I would sooner die in the street than take a crust of bread from you." Then she darted from him, and succeeded in escaping without hearing the words with which he replied to her angry taunts. She was woman enough to understand that her keenest weapon for wounding him would be an expression of unbounded love and confidence as to the man who was his rival; and therefore, though she was compelled to deny that she had lived on the charity of her lover, she had coupled her denial with an assurance of her faith and affection, which was, no doubt, bitter enough in Ziska's ears. "I do believe that she is witched," he said, as he turned away towards his own house. And then he reflected wisely on the backward tendency of the world in general, and regretted much that there was no longer given to priests in Bohemia the power of treating with salutary ecclesiastical severity patients suffering in the way in which his cousin Nina was afflicted.

Nina had hardly got out of the Grosser Ring into the narrow street which leads from thence towards the bridge, when she encountered her other lover. He was walking slowly down the centre of the street when she passed him, or would have passed him, had not she recognised his figure through the gloom. "Anton," she said, coming up to him and touching his arm as lightly as was possible, "I am so glad to

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"But the kind man kept the necklace, I suppose."

"Of course he kept the necklace. You would not have me borrow money from a stranger, and leave him nothing?"

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'No; I would not have you do that. But why not borrow from one who is no stranger?"

"I do not want to borrow at all," said Nina, in her lowest tone.

"Are you ashamed to come to me in your trouble?

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Yes," said Nina. "I should be ashamed to come to you for money. I would not take it from you."

He did not answer her at once, but walked on slowly while she kept close to his side. "Give me the the jeweller's docket," he said at last. Nina hesitated for a moment, and then he repeated his demand in a sterner voice. "Nina, give me the jeweller's docket." Then she put her hand in her pocket, and gave it him. She was very averse to doing so, but she was more averse to refusing him aught that he asked of her.

"I have got something to tell you, Anton," she said, as soon as he had put the jeweller's paper into his purse.

Well what is it?"

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"I have seen every paper and every morsel of everything that is in father's desk, and there is no sign of the deed you want." "And how did you see them?" "He showed them to me."

"You told him then what I had said to you?"

"No; I told him nothing about it. He gave me the key, and desired me to fetch him all the papers. He wanted to find a letter which uncle Karil wrote him ever so long ago. In that letter uncle Karil acknowledges that he has the deed."

"I do not doubt that in the least."
"And what is it you do doubt, Anton?

"I do not say I doubt anything."
"Do you doubt me, Anton ?"

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There was a little pause before he answered her- the slightest moment of hesitation. But had it been but half as much, Nina's ear and Nina's heart would have detected it. "No," said Anton, "I am not saying that I doubt any one."

If you doubt me, you will kill me. I am at any rate true to you. What is it you want? What is it you think?"

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They tell me that the document is in the house in the Kleinseite."

"Who are they? Who is it that tells you?"

"More than one. Your uncle and aunt

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MY GARDEN.

BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

If I could put my woods in song,
And tell what's there enjoyed,

All men would to my gardens throng,
And leave the cities void.

In my plot no tulips blow,
Snow-loving pines and oaks instead,
And rank the savage maples grow
From spring's faint flush to autumn red.

My garden is a forest-ledge,
Which older forests bound;

The banks slope down to the blue lake-edge,
Then plunge in depths profound.

Here once the Deluge ploughed,
Laid the terraces, one by one;
Ebbing later whence it flowed,
They bleach and dry in the sun.

The sowers made haste to depart,
The wind and the birds which sowed it;
Nor for fame, nor by rules of art,
Planted these and tempests flowed it.
Waters that wash my garden-side
Play not in Nature's lawful web,
They heed not moon or solar tide-
Five years elapse from flood to ebb.

Hither hasted, in old time, Jove,
And every god - -none did refuse;
And be sure at last came Love,
And after Love, the Muse.

Keen ears can catch a syllable,
As if one spake to another

In the hemlocks, tall, untamable,

And what the whispering grasses smother.

Eolian harps in the pine
Ring with the song of the Fates;
Infant Bacchus in the vine-
Far distant yet his chorus waits.

Canst thou copy in verse one chime
Of the wood-bell's peal and cry?
Write in a book the morning's prime,
Or match with words that tender sky?

Wonderful verse of the gods,
Of one import, of varied tone;
They chart the bliss of their abodes
To man imprisoned in his own.

Ever the words of the gods resound,
But the porches of man's ear
Seldom in this low life's round
Are unscaled that he may hear,

Wandering voices in the air,
And murmurs in the wold,
Speak what I cannot declare,
Yet cannot all withhold.

When the shadow fell on the lake,
The whirlwind in ripples wrote

Air-bells of fortune that shine and break,
And omens above thought.

But the meanings cleave to the lake,
Cannot be carried in book or urn;
Go thy ways now, come later back,
On waves and hedges still they burn.

These the fates of men forecast,
Of better men than live to-day;
If who can read them comes at last,
He will spell in the sculpture, "Stay.”

-Atlantic Monthly.

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WHEN Lucy reached the drawing-room she found her father and Sir Brook deep in conversation in one of the window-recesses, and actually unaware of her entrance till she stood beside them.

"No," cried Lendrick, eagerly; "I can't follow these men in their knaveries. I don't see the drift of them, and I lose the clue to the whole machinery."

"The drift is easy enough to understand," said Fossbrooke. "A man wants to escape from his embarrassments, and has little scruple as to the means."

"But the certainty of being found

out

"There is no greater fallacy than that. Do you imagine that one-tenth of the cheats that men practise on the world are ever brought to light? Or do you fancy that all the rogues are in jail, and all the people who are abroad and free are honest men? Far from it. Many an inspector that comes to taste the prison soup and question the governor, ought to have more than an experimental course of the dietary; and many a juryman sits on the case of a creature far better and purer than himself. But here comes one will give our thoughts a pleasanter channel to run in. How well you look, Lucy! I am glad to see the sunny skies of Sardinia haven't blanched your cheeks. "Such a scheme as Sir Brook has discovered!—such an ignoble plot against my poor dear father!" said Lendrick. "Tell her tell her the whole of it."

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score of its vanity. She thought herself a very great personage writing to another great personage."

"Just so," said Fossbrooke. "It was right royal throughout. It might have begun, Madame ma sœur.' And as I knew something of the writer, I thought it a marvel of delicacy and discretion."

"My father, unfortunately, deemed it a piece of intolerable pretension and offensive condescension, and he burned to be well enough to reply to it."

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Which is exactly what we must not permit. If they once get to a regular interchange of letters, there is nothing they will not say to each other. No, no; my plan is the best of all. Lionel made a most favourable impression the only time Sir William saw him. Beattie shall bring him up here again as soon as the Chief can be about: the rest will follow naturally. Lucy agrees with me, I see:"

How Sir Brook knew this is not so easy to say, as Lucy had turned her head away persistently all the time he was speaking, and still continued in that attitude.

"It cannot be to-night, however, and possibly not to-morrow night," said Fossbrooke, musing; and though Lucy turned quickly and eagerly towards him to explain his words, he was silent for some minutes, when at length he said, "Lionel started this morning by daybreak, and for England. It must have been a sudden thought. He left me a few lines in pencil, which went thus'I take the early mail to Holyhead, but mean to be back to-morrow, or at farthest the day after. No time for more.'

999

"If the space were not brief that he assigns for his absence, I'd say he had certainly gone to see his father," said Lendrick.

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In a very few words Sir Brook recounted the story of Sewell's interview with Balfour, and the incident of the stolen draft of the Judge's writing bartered for money. "It's not at all unlikely that his mother "It would have killed my father. The may have arranged to meet him in Wales," shock would have killed him," said Lendrick. said Sir Brook. "She is a fussy, meddle"And it was this man - this Sewell who some woman, who likes to be, or to think possessed his entire confidence of late herself, the prime mover in everything. I actually wielded complete influence over remember when Hugh Trafford him. The whole time I sat with my father, fellow at that time was offered a Junior he did nothing but quote him, Sewell Lordship of the Treasury, it was she who said soSewell told me - or Sewell sus called on the Premier, Lord Dornington, to pected such a thing; and always with some explain why he could not accept office. little added comment on his keen sharp Nothing but great abilities or great vices intellect, his clear views of life, and his con-enable a man to rise above the crushing summate knowledge of men. It was by the qualities of such a wife. Trafford had picture Sewell drew of Lady Trafford that neither, and the world has always voted him my father was led to derive his impression a nonentity." of her letter. Sewell taught him to detect a covert impertinence and a sneer where none was intended. I read the letter myself, and it was only objectionable on the

FOURTH SERIES. LIVING AGE. VOL. III.

"There, Lucy," said Lendrick, laughing -"there at least is one danger you must avoid in married life."

"Lucy needs no teachings of mine," said

35.

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