Chapter XII

"It is pleasanter here, is it not, Eden?" Mr. Menemon asked, when they reached the sitting-room. "It makes one think of old times, doesn't it? Do you remember--" And Mr. Menemon rambled on with some anecdote of days long past.

Eden gazed at him wonderingly. His words passed her by unheeded. It was bewildering to her that he could accept the tragedy so lightly, and as he spoke she kept repeating to herself that Virginius was part of a world long dead and derided. Truly, she could not understand. He seemed conscious of no wrong doing. The position in which she was placed excited him so little that he was able to discourse in platitudes. She was not wife nor maid nor widow, and for the man who had taken her from her home and inflicted on her a wrong that merited the penitentiary, her father expressed no indignation, no sorrow even. He did not even attempt to condole with her. And it was to him she had turned. Truly, she was helpless indeed. Yet still she gazed at him, expectant of some sudden outbreak, some storm of anger which, though it parodied her own, would at least be in unison with it. Her fingers were restless and her mouth was parched, a handkerchief which she held she twisted into coils, it seemed to her that were no word of sympathy forthcoming she would suffocate, as the traveler in the desert gasps beneath the oppression of fair and purple skies.

And still Mr. Menemon rambled on. "I should have gone to his funeral," he said, "had you not come in. He is to be buried in Washington I hear. Well, well! he was a brave man and a staunch friend. Yes, he was all of that. Really, Eden, I ought to have gone. I suppose they will escort the body to the station. Did you hear the drums when you went up-stairs? It makes a man of my age feel that his turn may be next."

Mr. Menemon crossed the room and looked out of the window. "See, Eden," he continued; "there must be a whole regiment. Not his own, though. The better part of that went down at Gettysburg. You remember, don't you----"

With this Mr. Menemon turned with a haste he strove to conceal. "It's almost dinner time," he added, inconsequently. "I will just change my coat." And immediately he left the room.

For a moment Eden thought she heard his voice in the hall. Then all was still again. She was wholly alone. She envied her father's friend who lay in some catafalque across the square. And presently the sense of desolation grew so acute that she threw herself prostrate on the lounge, and clasping a cushion in her arms, she buried her face in its silk.

From the square beyond came a muffled roll, and on her shoulder the touch of a hand. It was her father, she was sure. She half turned, her cheeks wet with tears. "What is it?" she sobbed. "Father----"

"It is I, Eden." And through a rift of understanding there filtered the sound of Usselex's voice. With the flutter of a bird surprised, she looked up. She started, and would have risen, but the hand weighed her down. She tried to move, and raising her arm as though to shield her eyes from some distasteful sight, suddenly she extended it, and motioned him back.

"Eden," he began.

"Don't speak to me!" she cried; and shaking herself from his hold, she stood up and dashed the tears away. "Don't speak to me!" she repeated; "and if anywhere within the purlieus of your being there is a spark of shame, leave me, and never----"

"Eden, you are unjust."

"Ah, I am unjust, am I not? I am unjust, because I believed in you. I am unjust, because I discover you in some coarse intrigue, I am unjust, because I thought myself your wife. I am unjust, am I? Did you get my note? Is it for that that you are here?"

"Eden, if you will listen a moment----"

"I have listened too long. Where is my father? Why is it you pursue me here? Are you not satisfied with your work? You meet a girl who only wishes to trust, and before her eyes you unroll a panorama of deceit. Oh! you chose her well----"

"It cannot be that you believe that man, Eden----"

"The man I believed was you. What matters the testimony of others when I find myself deceived----"

"Eden, you have deceived yourself. Last night I told you there were things I had not wished to tell, not from lack of confidence, but because----"

"Because you knew that did I hear them I would go."

"No, not that; but because I did not wish to cause you pain."

"Yes, protest. My father said you would. But the protest comes too late. Besides, I do not care to listen."

And thereat she made a movement as though to leave the room. But this Usselex prevented. He planted himself very firmly before her. His attitude was arrestive as an obelisk and uncircuitable as a labyrinth. Attention was his to command, and he claimed it with a gesture.

"You shall not go," he said; "you shall hear me."

She stepped back to elude him, but he caught her by the wrist.

"Look at me," he continued. "It took fifty years to make my hair gray; one day has made it white."

Eden succeeded in disengaging herself from his grasp, and she succeeded the more easily in that a servant unobserved by her, yet seen by Usselex, had entered the room. He loosed his hold at once and glanced at the man.

"What is it?" he asked. "No one rang."

"A letter, sir," the man answered; "it was to be delivered to you."

Usselex took the note and held it unexamined in his hand. Eden caught a glimpse of the superscription. The writing was her own. It was, she knew, the note which she had dispatched a half hour before. Meanwhile the servant had withdrawn.

"When I came home this afternoon," Usselex continued, "and found that you had gone, I could not understand----"

"You might have gone to the Ranleigh for information. Let me pass!"

"Why to the Ranleigh? surely----"

"To Mrs. Feverill, then, since you wish me to be explicit. Let me pass, I say."

"It was of her I wished to tell you----"

"Was it, indeed? You were considerate enough, however, not to do so."

"Let me tell you now?"

"Rather let me go. I prefer your reticence to your confidence."

"Eden----"

"No, I have no need to learn more of your mistress----"

Usselex stepped aside. "She is my daughter," he said, sadly. "Go, since you wish to."

--"Nor of your wife," she added, as he spoke.

"I have no other wife than you," he answered, and with the note which he held in his hand he toyed despondently. As yet he had not so much as glanced at the address.

Something, a light, an intonation, and influence undiscerned yet sentiable, stayed her steps. She halted in passing and looked him in the face. And he, seeing that she hesitated, repeated with an accent sincere as that which is heard in the voice of the moribund, "No other wife than you."

"You say that Mrs. Feverill is your daughter?" she exclaimed. It may be that the average woman, conscious of her own mobility, is more inattentive of the past than of the present. But however that may be, the assurance which Eden had just received seemed to affect her less than the preceding announcement. "You say that she is your daughter," she repeated. "Why, you told me--You said--"

"I have told you nothing. Will you sit a moment and let me tell you now?"

Coerced and magnetized, the girl moved back and sank down again on the lounge. Usselex still toyed absently with the note, and as he too found a seat, for the first time she recalled its contents. Then a shudder beset her.

"I ought perhaps," he began, "to have been franker in this matter. But my excuse, if it be one, is that I was dissuaded by your father. Before I ventured to ask you to marry me, I told my story to him, and he counselled silence. What I say to you now he will substantiate. Shall I ring and ask him to come here?"

His words reached her from inordinate distances, across preceding days, and out of and through the note which he held in his hand; and with them came the acutest pain. "He is telling the truth," she reflected, "and I deserve to die."

"Shall I ring?" he repeated.

She started and shook her head. "No, no," she replied. "Go on."

"I thank you," Usselex returned. "I can understand that enough has occurred to shake your confidence. In the circumstances, it is good of you to be willing to receive my unsupported word. But bear with me a moment. You will see, I think, that I have done no wrong."

As he spoke she had but one thought, to repossess herself of the note. Could she but get it and tear it and set it aflame, out of the cinders life might re-arise.

"You may remember," he continued, "what I said of myself, 'things have not always been pleasant with me.' You knew as a child what it is to lose a mother, but think what it must be to have a mother and have that mother ignore your existence. Such a thing is hard, is it not? But of her I will not speak; she is dead, poor woman; I hope she never suffered as have I. The people by whom I was brought up I looked upon as my parents. They had been paid to adopt me. When I discovered that, I was old enough to make my own living. With that view I came to this country. New York was different then. I should not care to land here now and attempt to make a fortune without a penny to start with. But it is true, I was young. I was a fair linguist, a rarity in those days, and it was not long before I found a situation. When I had a little money put by, I learned of an opening in Boston, and started in business there for myself. Shortly after I became acquainted with a girl. She was very beautiful; more so, I thought, than anyone I had ever seen. So soon as I was in a position to marry she became my wife. We lived together for three years. During that time I thought her affection as unwavering as my own. She was an excellent musician, and much sought after, not alone because of her talent, but because of her beauty as well. The entertainments which she frequented I was often unable to attend. But I was glad to have her go without me. I was proud of the admiration which she aroused. One evening she left me, and did not return. For some time her disappearance was unexplained. Ultimately I discovered that she was in New York. She had deserted me for another man. I followed her and obtained a divorce. Afterwards the man deserted her as she had deserted me. Then she went abroad. Of her life there I can only judge by hearsay. I believe that at one time she figured in an opera troupe. Now and then she wrote, asking for money; but latterly she has ceased. It is a surprise to me that she calls herself by my name. Perhaps she has done so because she heard that I had prospered. The reflection of that prosperity may have been of advantage to her. That, however, can easily be stopped. But I am sorry, Eden, that you should have learned of it. Even the children do not know; they think her dead. When she deserted me, I left them with their grand-parents. In so doing I sought to separate myself from everything connected with her, and I stipulated that I would provide for their maintenance on condition that they were kept in ignorance of their mother's existence and of mine. Some years ago, however, first the grandfather, then the grandmother, died. I was obliged to appear more prominently. My daughter had married; I took her husband into my employ. It was of him I spoke the other day."

He hesitated and paused, his eyes fixed in hers. The phrases had come from him haltingly, one by one, but each he had dowered with an accent that carried conviction with it. With the note which he held in his hand, he still toyed abstractedly.

"You understand now, do you not?" he asked. "You understand and forgive?"

And Eden, as one who has weathered a storm and sees shipwreck imminent in port bowed her head. "It is truth," she told herself. "If he reads that note, he will kill me."

"You understand now, do you not?" he repeated. His voice was sonorous and caressing as an anthem, and he bent nearer that he might see her face.

"Too late!" she answered.

"No, Eden, not that. Look at me. You must not hide your eyes. In all the world there are none as fair as they. Look at me, Eden. Tell me that you forgive. I have pained you, I know; I have been stupid; but the pain has been unwitting and the stupidity born of love. Look at me, Eden. See," he continued, and bent at her side, "See, I ask forgiveness on my knees. Can you not give it me?"

"To you, yes, but never to myself." She spoke hoarsely, in a voice unlike her own; her eyes were not in his, they were staring at something in his hand, and as she stared, she seemed to shrink. The muscles of her face were rigid. And Usselex, perplexed at the fixidity of her gaze, followed the direction which her eyes had taken and saw that they rested on the note which he still held, crumpled and forgotten. For a second he looked at it wonderingly, "Why, it is from you," he exclaimed.

In that second, Eden, with the prescience that is said to visit those that drown, went forward and back, into the past and into the future as well. Amid her scattered yesterdays she groped for a promise. Of the unanswering morrows she called for release, and as her husband stood up, preparing to read what she had written, she felt herself the depository of shame.

The next instant she was at his side. "Give it me," she murmured. Her voice trembled a little, but she strove to render it assured. "Give it me," she pleaded.

Usselex turned to her at once. "Certainly, if you wish it," he said. "What is it about?"

He held the note to her, and she, with an affected air of indifference, took it from him and tossed it into the grate.

"Nothing," she answered, and then, as though ashamed of the falsehood, she looked him bravely in the face. "It was about your clerk."

"Adrian?" he asked. And as she nodded, tremulous still and unprepared for further questions, he added, "I hope you like him."

"You hope I like him?"

"Yes, he is my son."

Eden's hands went to her throat and her eyes to the grate. The note was already in a blaze.

"Yes," Usselex continued, "I have a bit of news for you. He is engaged to Miss Bolton. For a long time her parents objected, but last night they consented. It may be because he was at the opera with you. How small people can be!" he added. "She is a nice girl, though. Adrian told me this morning that he tried to speak to you about her the night I dined with Governor Blanchford, but that you did not seem interested."

"God in Heaven!" gasped Eden, beneath her breath. "If these are your punishments, what then are your rewards?"

Usselex had led her to a seat and taken her unresisting hand in his. For some little time he talked to her, very gently, as it behooves the strong to address the weak. And as he spoke, Mr. Menemon entered, and seeing them hand-locked and side-by-side, he smiled cheerily to himself with the air of a man who learns that all is well.

Usselex stood up at once, but for a little space Eden sat very still, surprised as February at a violet, then rising, she went forward to the window and looked out at the night. From the square beyond came the beat of drums, and on the breeze was borne to her the shrill treble of retreating fifes. And as she loitered at the window, conscious only of a sense of happiness such as she had never known before, her father called to her. She turned at his bidding. In the opposite doorway a servant stood.

"Dinner is served," he said.

And presently Mr. Menemon, as was his custom, mumbled a grace and thanksgiving to God.

THE END.

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Laurel Leaves

Poems, Stories and Essays. By Henry W. Longfellow and others. With 75 illustrations by Eytinge Jr., Birket Foster and others.

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Lotus Leaves

Original Stories, Essays, and Poems. By some of the most popular American and English authors. Edited by W. F. Gill. New and improved edition. Beautifully illustrated with engravings from designs by Fredericks, Lumley, Lyell and others.

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Papyrus Leaves

A companion to "Laurel Leaves" and "Lotus Leaves," comprising Poems, Stories and Essays by Longfellow, O. W. Holmes, Whittier, Bryant, Lowell, Wilkie Collins, Edward Eggleston, James T. Fields and other eminent authors. Fully illustrated with fine engravings by eminent artists.

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New Stories from an Old Book

(Biblical Characters with Modern Titles.) By Rev. H. L. Hammond ("Laurens"), with an introduction by Rev. John H. Vincent, D.D., Chancellor of Chautauqua University, with 25 original full-page illustrations by True W. Williams.

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Painters of the Italian Renaissance

By Edith Healy. Illustrated by 25 original copperplate engravings or choice masterpieces of the leading Italian painters, executed in the highest style of art by the famous French engraver, M. De Mare.

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The Story of Manon Lescaut

From the French of L'Abbe Prevost. A new translation, by Arthur W. Gundry, from the French edition of 1753, with over 200 full-page and other illustrations, by the great French artist, Maurice Leloir and others. Reproduced by photogravure, wood engraving and photo-engraving processes from the superb edition de luxe, published in Paris in 1885.

THE MOST POPULAR LINE OF HUMOROUS BOOKS PUBLISHED.

Bill Nye's Chestnuts, Old and New.

The Latest Gathering. A Fountain of Perpetual Merriment. Richly Illustrated, by Williams, Opper and Hopkins.

Bill Nye and Boomerang, By Bill Nye.

Baled Hay, By Bill Nye.

Forty Liars and Other Lies, By Bill Nye.

A Book by "Peck's Bad Boy," Peck's Irish Friend, Phelan Geoheagan. By Geo. W. Peck, Jr., the original of Peck's Bad Boy. Richly illustrated by True Williams.

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GEO. W. PECK'S POPULAR BOOKS.

How Private Geo. W. Peck put down the Rebellion, Or, The Funny Experiences of a Raw Recruit (40th thousand), with 16 full page illustrations.

Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa

Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa, No. 2

Peck's Sunshine

Peck's Fun

Peck's Boss Book

Peck's Compendium of Fun

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Lime Kiln Club

By M Quad, with graphic illustrations of Bro. Gardner and other noted members of the club, by Gean Smith.

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Eli Perkins' Wit, Humor and Pathos

By Eli Perkins (The Champion Liar), with multiform illustrations by Uncle Consider.

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A Tramp Actor

By Elliot Barnes, author of "Only a Farmer's Daughter," etc.

OUR FAMOUS CAXTON LIST OF POPULAR BOOKS.

200 VOLUMES.

WORKS OF ADVENTURE.

Adventures Among The Indians. By W. H. Kingston.
Beauchampe. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Border Beagles. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Cast Up By The Sea. By Sir Samuel Baker.
Charlemont. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Confession. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Deep Down. By R. M. Ballantyne.
Deerslayer (The). By Fenimore Cooper.
Don Quixote. By Miguel Cervantes.
Erling, The Bold. By R. M. Ballantyne.
Eutaw. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Fire Brigade, The. By R. M. Ballantyne.
Forayers (The). By W. Gilmore Simms.
Giant Raft (The). By Jules Verne.
Guy Rivers. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Hunting In The Great West. By G. O. Shields.
Katharine Walton. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Last of The Mohicans (The). By Fenimore Cooper.
Mellichampe. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Mysterious Island, (The.) By Jules Verne.
Partisan (The). By W. Gilmore Simms.
Pathfinder (The). By Fenimore Cooper.
Perilous Adventures, By Land and Sea. By John Frost, LL.D
Rifle and Hound In Ceylon. By Sir Samuel Baker.
Richard Hurdis. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Robinson Crusoe. By Daniel Defoe.
Scout (The). By W. Gilmore Simms.
Secret Dispatch (The). By James Grant.
Southward Ho! By W. Gilmore Simms.
Spy (The). By Fenimore Cooper.
Swiss Family Robinson. By Wyss & Montolieu.
Thrilling Scenes Among The Indians. By T. M. Newson.
Tour of The World In Eighty Days. By Jules Verne.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. By Jules Verne.
Vasconselos. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Woodcraft. By W. Gilmore Simms.
Wigwam and Cabin (The). By W. Gilmore Simms.
Young Foresters (The). By W. H. Kingston.
Yamassee. By W. Gilmore Simms.

DETECTIVE STORIES.

File 118. By Emile Gaboriau.
Gilded Clique (The). By Emile Gaboriau.
In Peril Of His Life. By Emile Gaboriau.
Lerouge Case (The). By Emile Gaboriau.
Monsieur Lecoq. By Emile Gaboriau.
Mystery of Orcival. By Emile Gaboriau.
Other People's Money. By Emile Gaboriau.

ESSAYS AND BELLES LETTRES.

Alhambra. By Washington Irving.
Astoria. By Washington Irving.
Crown of Wild Olive and Queen of The Air. By John Ruskin.
Ethics of The Dust and A Joy Forever. By John Ruskin.
Heroes and Hero Worship. By Thomas Carlyle.
Sartor Resartus. By Thomas Carlyle.
Sesame and Lilies and Unto This Last. By John Ruskin.
Sketch Book. By Washington Irving.

ETIQUETTE, ETC.

Complete Letter Writer. By Thomas W. Handford.
Ladies' Etiquette.
Ladies' Family Physician. By Pye Henry Chavasse.
Needles and Brushes, Embroidery and Fancy Work.
Stoddard's Readings and Recitations. By R. H. and Elizabeth Stoddard.

FABLES AND FAIRY TALES.

AEsop's Fables, 100 Illustrations.
Andersen's Fairy Tales. By Hans Christian Andersen.
Arabian Nights (The).
Grimm's Popular Tales. By The Brothers Grimm.
Gulliver's Travels and Baron Munchausen. By Dean Swift and R. E. Raspe.

FICTION.

Adam Bede. By Geo. Eliot.
Admiral's Ward. By Mrs. Alexander.
Airy Fairy Lilian. By "The Duchess."
All In A Garden Fair. By Besant & Rice.
Arundel Motto (The). By Mary Cecil Hay.
Beauty's Daughters. By "The Duchess."
Belinda. By Rhoda Broughton.
Beyond Pardon. By Bertha M. Clay.
Broken Wedding Ring (A). By Bertha M. Clay.
Called Back and Dark Days. By Hugh Conway.
Cardinal Sin (A). By Hugh Conway.
Children of The Abbey. By Maria Roche.
Daughter of Heth (A). By Wm. Black.
Doris. By "The Duchess."
Dora Thorne. By Bertha M. Clay.
Dick's Sweetheart. By "The Duchess."
Dunallan. By Grace Kennedy.
Earl's Atonement (The). By Bertha M. Clay.
East Lynne. By Mrs. Henry Wood.
Eugene Aram. By Bulwer Lytton.
Endymion. By Benjamin Disraeli.
Faith and Unfaith. By "The Duchess."
Felix Holt. By Geo. Eliot.
For Lilias. By Rosa N. Carey.
Green Pastures and Picadilly. By Wm. Black.
Great Expectations. By Chas. Dickens.
Heart and Science. By Wilkie Collins.
Henry Esmond. By Wm. M. Thackeray.
Her Desperate Victory. By Mrs. M. L. Rayne.
Her Mother's Sin. By Bertha M. Clay.
Ione Stewart. By Miss E. Linn Linton.
Ishmaelite (An). By Miss M. E. Braddon.
Jane Eyre. By Charlotte Bronte.
John Halifax, Gentleman. By Miss Mulock.
Kenelm Chillingly. By Bulwer Lytton.
King Arthur. By Miss Mulock.
King Solomon's Mines. By H. Rider Haggard.
Ladies Lindores. By Mrs. Oliphant.
Lady Audley's Secret. By Miss M. E. Braddon.
Lady Branksmere. By "The Duchess."
Love Works Wonders. By Bertha M. Clay.
Macleod of Dare. By Wm. Black.
Madcap Violet. By Wm. Black.
Maid of Athens. By Justin McCarthy.
Margaret and Her Bridesmaids. By Julia Stretton.
Mental Struggle, (A). By "The Duchess."
Mill On The Floss. By Geo. Eliot.
Molly Bawn. By "The Duchess."
Mrs. Geoffrey. By "The Duchess."
New Magdalen (The). By Wilkie Collins.
Old Myddelton's Money. By Mary Cecil Hay.
Oliver Twist. By Charles Dickens.
Our Mutual Friend. By Charles Dickens.
Parisians (The). By Bulwer Lytton.
Paul and Virginia, Rasselas and Vicar of Wakefield. By St.
Pierre, Johnson & Goldsmith.
Phantom Fortune. By Miss M. E. Braddon.
Phyllis. By "The Duchess."
Portia; or, By Passions Rocked. By "The Duchess."
Princess of Thule (A). By Wm. Black.
Repented at Leisure. By Bertha M. Clay.
Romola. By Geo. Eliot.
Rossmoyne. By "The Duchess."
Shandon Bells. By Wm. Black.
She. By H. Rider Haggard.
Strange Story (A). By Bulwer Lytton.
Strange Adventures of a Phaeton. By Wm. Black.
Sunrise. By Wm. Black.
Sunshine and Roses. By Bertha M. Clay.
Tale of Two Cities (A). By Charles Dickens.
That Beautiful Wretch. By Wm. Black.
Three Feathers. By Wm. Black.
To The Bitter End. By Miss M. E. Braddon.
Tom Brown's School Days. By Thomas Hughes.
Tom Brown At Oxford. By Thomas Hughes.
Two On A Tower. By Thos. Hardy.
Under Two Flags. By Ouida.
Vanity Fair. By Wm. Thackeray.
Wanda. By Ouida.
Wilfred Cumbermede. By Geo. Macdonald.
Woman's Temptation (A). By Bertha M. Clay.
Wooing O't. By Mrs. Alexander.
Yolande. By Wm. Black.
Zanoni. By Bulwer Lytton.

HISTORICAL ROMANCES.

Bride of Lammermoor. By Sir Walter Scott.
Guy Mannering. By Sir Walter Scott.
Heart of Midlothian. By Sir Walter Scott.
Ivanhoe. By Sir Walter Scott.
Kenilworth. By Sir Walter Scott.
Last Days of Pompeii. By Bulwer Lytton.
Redgauntlet. By Sir Walter Scott.
Rienzi. By Bulwer Lytton.
Rob Roy. By Sir Walter Scott.
Scottish Chiefs. By Jane Porter.
Thaddeus of Warsaw. By Jane Porter.
Waverley. By Sir Walter Scott.
Willy Reilly. By Wm. Carleton.

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Dickens' Child's History of England.
Washington and Marion (Life of).
Webster (Life of). By Samuel Smucker, LL.D.

HUMOROUS FICTION.

Charles O'Malley. By Charles Lever.
Handy Andy. By Samuel Lover.
Harry Lorrequer. By Charles Lever.
Rory O'More. Samuel Lover.

RELIGIOUS AND DEVOTIONAL.

From Year to Year. By Alice Carey.
Imitation of Christ. By Thos. a Kempis.
Is Life Worth living. By W. H. Mallock.
Pilgrim's Progress (The). By John Bunyan.

SEA TALES.

Cruise of The Black Prince (The). By Commander Cameron
Five Years Before The Mast. By W. B. Hazen.
Jack In The Forecastle. By Hawser Martingale.
Mark Seaworth. By W. H. Kingston.
Midshipman (The). By W. H. Kingston.
Peter The Whaler. By Sir Samuel Baker.
Pilot (The). By Fenimore Cooper.
Pirate (The). By Sir Walter Scott.
Red Eric (The). By R. M. Ballantyne.
Round The World. By W. H. Kingston.
Salt Water. By Sir Samuel Baker.
Sea Queen (A). By W. Clark Russell.
Tom Cringle's Log. By Michael Scott.
Two Years Before The Mast. By R. H. Dana, Jr.

SHORT STORIES.

Dickens' Christmas Stories.
Dickens' Shorter Stories.
Dickens' Story Teller.
Ethan Brand. By Nathaniel Hawthorne and others.
Fern Leaves. By Fanny Fern.
Half Hours With Great Authors.
Half Hours With Great Humorists.
Half Hours With Great Novelists.
Half Hours With Great Story Tellers.
Poe's Tales. By Edgar Allan Poe.
Shadows and Sunbeams. By Fanny Fern.
True Stories From History. By Hugh DeNormand.

TRAVEL.

Eight Years' Wanderings In Ceylon. By Sir Samuel Baker.
Hyperion. By H. W. Longfellow.
Outre Mer. By H. W. Longfellow.

Some New and Popular Books.

A Dream and a Forgetting.
By Julian Hawthorne.

Rents in Our Robes.
By Mrs. Frank Leslie, a brilliant review of modern society and
manners by one of their most noted exponents.

A Slave of Circumstances.
By E. DeLancy Pierson.

The Romance of a Quiet Watering Place.
An extraordinary study of human nature, by Nora Wardell.

His Way and Her Will.
A pen-and-ink miniature of Eastern society, by A.X.

The Land of the Nihilist: Russia.
By W. E. Curtis. Illustrated with over 100 drawings.

The Lone Grave of the Shenandoah.
By Donn Platt.

The Political Oratory of Emery A. Storrs.
From Lincoln to Garfield.
By Isaac E. Adams.

The Protective Tariff.
What it Does for Us! By Gen'l Hermann Lieb.

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Belford's Magazine

Edited by DONN PIATT.

A Magazine devoted to Politics, Poetry, General Literature, Science and Art.

Belford's Magazine advocates the extinguishment of the surplus
by a reduction of the present iniquitous and burdensome
Tariff in the direction of Free-Trade or of a tariff for revenue
purposes only; such reform to be effected in the interests of the
farmers, the workingmen and the great mass of the population, as
opposed to the manipulators of rings and trusts and other monopolists
whom the present tariff enables to accumulate vast fortunes
at the expense of the community.

The department of Fiction is exceptionally full. Instead of a
serial story dragging its slow length through several months, and
exhausting the patience of the reader, a complete novel is
published, and each issue also contains one or more stories. In all
the departments the very best talent has been enlisted.

SOME OF THE CONTRIBUTORS:

David A. Welles,
Hon. Frank H. Hurd,
Prof. W. G. Sumner,
J. S. Moore (Parsee Merchant),
Hon. John G. Carlisle,
Henry Watterson,
Henry George,
Julian Hawthorne,
General Hermann Lieb,
Edgar Saltus,
John James Piatt,
Thos. G. Shearman,
General H. V. Boynton,
Sarah B. M. Piatt,
Edgar Fawcett,
Joel Benton,
Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
Rev. Geo. C. Lorimer,
E. Heron-Allen,
Coates-Kinney,
James Whitcomb Riley,
Soule Smith ("Falcon"),
Gertrude Garrison, Etc.