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I certainly believe that he has your diamonds."

"Bless you! what makes you think so?"

"I have watched him closely ever since I first met him. He came a great deal to the house where I live, to see a poor family. The man was porter in a store for which he corresponded. I wondered why he paid this humble family so much attention. I, too, was included in his constant civilities. Do you know there was a robbery and murder committed in that store, some time last summer, early?"

"I do recollect his speakin' of it." "After Mr. Dassel had visited our house some time, I discovered his object. He betrayed it to me, very cautiously, but still I understood him. The porter had a sleeve-button which Mr. Dassel had lost. If I would recover that button privately-which he thought I could do, for Abel Bellows had a great friendship for me—he would give me a thousand dollars for it. This was not until after he despaired of getting hold of it unaided. He was many weeks arriving at the open proposition. Meantime, I had been subjected to delicate flatteries, exquisite sympathy, brotherly kindness, which would have turned any head but one so suspicious as mine. But, somehow, I never trusted Mr. Dassel. Once before in my life I had met a pair of blue eyes like his-clear, blue as the sky, limpid, with an occasional wonder in them, like the surprise of a child; and their owner was the coldest, most subtle creature you could imagine. So I studied Mr. Dassel. Some time ago I made up my mind that he had committed the robbery in the store of his employers, and that some proof of the fact was in Abel Bellows' possession. When he finally disclosed his desire for the button, then I knew that my suspicions were correct. While debating what steps to take in the matter, I was astonished to find that, last week, he had caused the arrest of the porter, on the charge that he was the guilty party! I assure you, I have not been easy in my shoes since then, Mrs. Grizzle. I have

been afraid to move about much, to be alone, almost to eat or drink, for Mr. Dassel must have known that I suspect ed him, and would come forward on the witness-stand, and testify to his proposition about the button. It was to be expected that he would wish to get me out of the way. I was afraid that I should make one more of those 'mysterious disappearances' which are so frequent. That such might not be my fate, you may guess that I played a careful part when I met Mr. Dassel here Saturday. We both made ourselves very agreeable. Those blue eyes had a terrible sort of fascination to me. I have no doubt I should have met my fate before this, had he not had a plan for fleeing the country, which prevented his troubling himself about me."

"Oh, goodness gracious! how you do go on, Miss Bayles! You make me crawl all over."

"Not any more than I do," said the artist, with a little shiver. "I felt immensely relieved when I heard he had run away. I understand, now, the whole performance. He threw Abel Bellows into prison, not with the expectation of convicting him, but to prevent the porter from betraying him, while he perfected his plans for flight. If he could have obtained possession of the button before he betrayed himself to Bellows and to me, he would have remained here and snapped his fingers at any accusations Bellows might have made; but the case against him, supported by my testimony, would have been too strong. I think he liked his quarters here quite well enough to have remained, so long as he was free from danger."

"Yes," interposed Sam, "he had good pickings." The pupil was thinking of their daily games of billiards, and the laughing grace with which his tutor took the five or ten dollars which the young man was sure to lose before the sport ceased for the day. Nothing ever had been said of this trifling dissipation to the parents, and he had been put "to his wit's end," often, for the

money.

Susie Grizzle, hearing Miss Bayles' voice, had slipped away from her governess, and was standing in the room, unobserved, during the relation of the young lady. She now came forward, trembling a little, and looking frightened.

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Mamma, I saw Mr. Dassel come out of your room, Sunday, when you and pa and Sam were at church. I was in the hall. He looked vexed when he saw me, and said he thought I was with you; and he said, he wondered where the Sunday Times was-he'd been looking in your room for it."

"Why didn't you tell this to me before, Susan?"

"Oh, mamma, somehow I didn't dare to. The moment I heard your necklace was gone, I thought of Mr. Dassel, and that frightened me so "

"Little fool! But it wouldn't make any difference. He was out of the way by that time. This is what comes of takin' a foreigner into your family. Dear me to think of them Camerons! I would give my diamonds twice over, if that child was back under her father's roof."

"I can't conceive what he married her for, sweet as she is," mused Miss Bayles. "But I must hasten back to the city, to lay all these facts before Borden & DeWitt without delay. I hope to see Abel Bellows taking tea with his wife and children to-night."

“Oh, my dear, don't say a word about it! It would kill Mrs. Cameron and 'Lizabeth! They'd never get over it."

"But there is an innocent man in prison. His family suffers for want of his care. Even should I permit affairs to take their course, there would be but a brief delay. Borden & DeWitt will hear of Mr. Dassel's departure, and every thing will come out."

"Then the Lord have mercy on that family-that's all I've got to say! I'm afraid it'll be the death of 'em."

"I pity them,--I do, indeed. Perhaps the worst can be concealed from them. This matter need not, necessarily, get into the papers. I will ask them to withhold it. Doubtless they will

place detectives in the field, as they ought to do; but it can be kept quiet. Of course, if he should be discovered and arrested, the family would then know all. If he should escape, they may never learn that which must complete their unhappiness. I must go. No, I cannot stay to lunch. I want to reach the store in time to have his accusers bring up Abel Bellows for dismissal this very afternoon."

Sam walked with Miss Bayles down to the station, and saw her on the train. He came back with a slow step and heavy heart.

"Perhaps if Miss Lissa knew what trouble was before her, she'd be glad of me for a friend and protector, after all," he said to his mother, as he flung himself down on a chair in her room.

That was well said of Sam; it proved some manliness in his nature-for what is the true, "manly" character, if not to protect, defend, and comfort the woman which it chooses?

"Poor girl, I shouldn't wonder," replied his mother, dropping a tear on the gorgeous afghan she was knitting; "and if she's so disposed, I shan't offer objections, if they have got a burglar in the family. The Camerons are too nice people to be put down; and I, for one, shall stand up for 'em."

"And I, for two," added Sam.

-Swiftly the lessening autumn day glided away,-too swiftly for Miss Bayles, who had many steps to take, in order to carry out her plans. But she worked faithfully, and came out in triumph from her day of busy toil. The sun was setting in a bank of crimson clouds, as she entered the tenementhouse with a basket on her arm and sundry packages in her hands; and, proceeding directly to Mrs. Bellows' room, laid down her burdens, and addressed its mistress thus:

"I've taken the liberty of inviting a friend to tea, Mrs. Bellows, and I want you and the children to look your best. I'll curl Toddle's hair and put on his white apron, if you'll brush up the room and put on your alpaca dress. We must

have the table look nice, too. So here's a bouquet of flowers for it, and a can of peaches, a cake, some cheese, rusk, smoked beef, every thing nice!"

"For the land-sake, a boddy would think you was going to be married, and was settin' out your weddin' supper! That cake's actually frosted. Who's comin'? Mr. Dassel?"

"Not be! A gentleman friend of mine, though. You make haste and dress, please, for I expect him in half an hour."

The young girl laughingly "shewed" away the children, who had gathered about the dainties like a flock of chickens at the sight of corn, while their mother went to the bureau to put up her hair, murmuring, "It's an awful piece of extravagance for me to put on that alpaca, when it's likely I'll never have another. I hope you'll enjoy your self, Miss Bayles; and I'm sure I'm willin' you should have company when it don't cost me a cent, and nothing but the trouble. But you mustn't think a woman with her husband in the Tombs is goin' to be very gay; besides, I was always bashful before strangers."

"You won't be afraid of this gentleman, I'm quite sure," said the artist, all smiles. "He's as jolly and humorous a person as I know. I rather think you will like him. I've curled the baby, and now, with your permission, I'll set the table. Is there plenty of tea? Matthew, run, get a pint of milk, and come back instantly. How pretty the flowers look in the centre of the table! We must light both burners. There! how do you like it!"

"It's all well enough for them that can afford it," sighed Mrs. Bellows.

Presently Matthew returned with the milk. Two or three times Miss Bayles had approached the window during her preparations, and stolen a glance across

the way.

"Is all ready now?" she asked. "As fur as I know; and I hope your company'll soon be here, for if there's any thing I dislike, it's tea that's steeped till the flavor's all gone."

Again Miss Bayles approached the window, and drawing up the blind, she

let it down in an innocent manner, noways like a signal. About two minutes thereafter there was a knock at the door. Mrs. Bellows made signs to the two oldest to fold their hands and hold up their heads, and then put on her own company-look. The artist stepped gayly to the door and flung it wide open.

The burners shone down on a happy-looking man, whose whole face twinkled, as he stood there in silence. The hands flew apart, the heads came down, the company-look disappeared. "A-bel Bel-lows!"

"The same old Bellows," said he; "don't you know it by the nose?" He stepped into the room and held his arms open. The children flew into them. The wife hung back a moment; the next she, too, was clinging to him, while tears of joy ran down her face. His first kiss was for her, then Matthew and Abbey; then little Toddle was raised aloft in the stout arms.

"God bless him! father's wanted to see him so!" and then Abel broke down, and cried a little himself, at which every body, young lady included, followed the fashion.

"This'll never do, will it, my boy? Oh, Lordy, how glad I am to get home again! How beautiful it seems to me!

good as a palace!" and the porter looked about the cheerful room, and laughed, until every body followed the fashion, and laughed too.

Yes, Mrs. Bellows laughed like a girl; the natural timidity and melancholy of her character only found voice once during the whole evening, and that was just as they were about sitting down to table, when she drew back and asked, "Abel, you hain't broke jail, have you?"

"No, Abbey; I've been honorably acquitted, and got my old place back with an advance of wages, and a present of a hundred dollars from my employers, which I propose to pay back to Miss Bayles this very night. And I'm goin' to let lottery-tickets alone, and support you and the babies, and be happy as a king."

THE LAND OF THE TROUBADOURS.

A WINTER'S RESIDENCE AND ITS ENTERTAINMENTS.

THE winter of 1867 and 1868, for its severity, both on the western continent and that of Europe, will not soon be forgotten. The degree of cold and the quantity of snow, both in the United States and in France, Switzerland, and Italy, were unprecedented. On the continent of Europe the cold reached its lowest point during the month of January, when the Seine for many days remained so thickly frozen at Paris as to admit of the passage across it of heavily laden teams, and in the southernmost portions of France the smaller streams were frozen over, and the Rhone itself, even at Avignon, was filled with floating ice, and deep snows covered the earth. In Italy, also, terrible suffering was occasioned by the great cold and the heavy

snows.

It was about the beginning of the present year that I set out from Paris in search of a more genial climate. The weather there had indeed become too imperial in its expression, for my democratic constitution-equivocal, leadencolored, withering, deathly. The subtle northeast wind direct from the North Sea, mingling its ice-prisms with the dust of the Boulevards, went through and through you in spite of any amount of clothing. It was indeed high time to be off towards sunnier regions. The question was where to find them, whether on the easterly shores of Spain, or the southerly shores of Italy. Either was to be reached by the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railroad, and so by that route I took my departure. Once arrived at Marseilles, some inquiry there induced me to turn my face towards the southeasterly slopes of the maritime Alps, and I took my ticket for the city of CANNES.

In the ages before Christ, all these slopes, from Marseilles to Genoa, be

longed to the old Celtic race of the Ligurians. One of their most powerful tribes, the Oxibians, dwelt on the hillsides and in the valleys surrounding the two bays of the Mediterranean Sea, now known as the Gulfs of Napaule and Jouan. Their chief town, according to Polybius, was Agitna, with the g hard. In the course of time it became Eketna, Catna, Cana, and then in French, Cannes.

On a promontory of gneis rock, some two or three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and jutting out about the fourth of a mile from the northwesterly shore of the Gulf of Napaule, and on the shore each side of it, stands to-day the town of Cannes. On the top of this promontory, called Mont Chevalier, are to be seen the ruins of the old feudal castle, with its adjacent church, and in their shadows on the precipitous sides of it, with its filthy alley-ways for streets, the remains of the old town still exist. The modern town, with its great hotels and numerous villas, built principally by the English within the last thirty years, occupies the nearly level, crescentshaped shore on the northeast side of this promontory, terminating in the narrow neck of land called the Cap de la Croissette; opposite to which, and a few hundred feet from its southern extremity, lie the Islands of St. Marguerite and St. Honorat.

In the year 1834, under the shelter of the low hills lying westerly of the old town, Lord Brougham built the first English villa and took up his residence here at Cannes, and here he died, the other day, at the age of ninety years. He may be said to have been the founder of the modern town, and of the English colony constituting its principal population. Regularly, during every day of the past winter, the little, old, withered figure of the ex-chancellor was to be

seen, half lying down in his coupé, with his coachman and valet in plain clothes, sitting together on the box, riding slowly along the sunny road between Cannes and the Gulf de Jouan. Whenever I saw him, he seemed half asleep, but his face still wore a good deal of the old Scotch-terrier-like expression.

The truth is that the town of Cannes, although beautifully situated and admirably sheltered from the dreaded northwest winds, is low, damp, and unclean; and so, after spending a few days here, I determined to push on to Nice or farther south, notwithstanding the attractions of its casino, where one may have faro, monte, or any other species of play, to his heart's content.

It is said, however, that these sanitary objections are about to be obviated. Cannes is to be supplied with an abundance of pure water, by means of the canal de Siagne, now in course of construction, and which is to conduct the water of the river Siagne-a fine, neverfailing mountain-stream-into the town. It is also to be thoroughly sewered. If man will do for it half as much as nature has, Cannes will become one of the most delightful winter residences in the world.

On the bright beautiful morning of the day I had determined to set out, the genial summer-like warmth of the atmosphere induced me to take a stroll; and calling a fiacre, of which there are always plenty here, at fixed rates by the course or the hour, I ordered the driver to go in the direction of the Gulf of Jouan, which I had not yet seen. With in a mile northeasterly of the town, we crossed the narrow neck of land before mentioned, called the Cap de la Croissette, and came upon the high bold shore of the gulf, and drove upon a road as broad and smooth as a Paris Boulevard, cut into the side of the hills along its northwestern shore, for the distance of three or four miles. Nothing could exceed the unexpected beauty of that ride. On the one side were the clear, blue waters of the Mediterranean, with a distant view of the verdant shores of the Cap de la Garoupe, and on the other,

the bold, rocky mountain-side with its lower slopes terraced and planted with orange and other flowering trees and shrubs, and adorned with many beautiful villas, the upper portions being covered with the dark green of the pine and corkoak tree.

In the course of that ride, I came to the conclusion that I had discovered what I had set out in search of a winter climate mild enough to admit of living freely in the open air, of repose, and, if it might be, of some reinvigoration of the physical nature. In one of the villas on the mountain-side, some four or five hundred feet above and overlooking the sea, I took up my abode; aud from that 7th of January 1868 to the middle of the following March, with the exception of one night of rain and two or three mornings of a dull, leaden sky, every succeeding day brought with it the same genial warmth and glow of sunshine. As morning after morning, from the windows of my apartment, I watched the shimmer of the soft golden dawn and the flashing splendors of the sun, as they arose out of the sea away beyond the mountains of Corsica, transforming their peaks into pillars of ruby, and the masses of vapor lying above them into golden palaces of the gods, a new force seemed to invade and expand my nerves, and a new life take possession of my whole system, soul and body.

The group of Alpine hills, constituting the particular mountain-mass of which I am speaking, has a circumference of from twenty-five to thirty miles, and is separated from the higher ranges to the north and west by a valley, running from the northeasterly side of the Cap de la Garoupe, beyond Antibes, first northwesterly toward Grasse, and then sweeping to the southeast, runs out into the Gulf of Napaule along the foot of the Esterels. Its seaward slope has an irreg ular concave line, and includes the Gulf of Napaule as well as the Gulf of Jouan, these being separated by the beforementioned Cap de la Croissette, and the adjacent islands,-the Gulf of Jousn itself being shut in on the northwest by the hills that terminate in the latter

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