Miss Mephistopheles

iscovery of the thieves. When, however, it became known that the lady in question declined to allow an investigation to be made, and was apparently contented to lose five thousand pounds'

poisoning case, and the public were quite prepared to hear any evil o

uld she steal her own jewels? One theory was that she required money, and had sold them for this purpose, pretending that they were stolen, in order to satisfy the lovers who gave them to her. This was clearly absurd, as Caprice cared nothing for the opinion of her lovers, and, moreover, the donors of the diamonds were long since dead or ruined, so the idea of the detective was unanimously laughed at. But then the fact remained, she would not allow an investigation to be made; and how was t

dismissed them with the remark that she wished the affair left alone, so they had to obey her, and remain in ignorance like

ry of which she was the heroine. She had fulfilled her promise to Keith, in seeing Mortimer about the chances of production for "Faust Upset." The manager

nce; "I can get operas from London whose success is already assured, and I don'

ey out of Colonial audiences, I don't see why you shouldn't give at least one chance to see what Colonial brains can do.

act was finished and shown to him, he was graciously pleased to say there was good stuff in it, and began to be a little more hopeful as to its success. So Keith worked hard all day at his employment, and at night on his libretto, to which Ezra put bright

us attention to business. He attended to the books, and, as time went on, the pawnbroker actually let him pay money into the bank, so great had his confidence i

this yard from the street. By this humble way many well-known people came, particularly at night--the fast young man who had backed the wrong horse, the speculative sharebroker, and the spendthrift society lady, all came here in quest of money, which they always got, provided their security was good, and, of course, they paid an exorbitant percentage. Lazarus had dealings with al

from the manager of the Hibernian Bank, which informed him that the sum of five hundred pounds had been placed to his credit. Stewart went next day to find out the name of his unknown benefactor, but the manager refused to tell him, as he had

ld do you a good turn?" asked L

the Colonies, and no friend rich enough to give me so much

asked him to give me some money so that I could marry, and he refused.

rved Keith meditatively

ides, I hear she's been rather hard up of late. I suppose Fent

ke that," said Keith, regre

t you get entangled in the nets, or you'll forget all ab

N

ificantly, "or she'll withdraw the light of her counte

t, with an uneasy laugh. "I wond

urs

ough gone for that. Be

ch would be nothing to Caprice. So, as she wan

e's ma

unholy old man for all that--she'll ensnare him, and we'll see ho

her affairs," said Keith impatiently.

luebeard's wife, etcetera. Take the goods the gods bestow, and don't try to fin

e five hundred is really and truly mine. Who kno

young men," said Ezra; "but I

nt to save up all my

e going to

get ri

y her if Capric

disbeli

ith you, and her love, like the

d. Caprice will never ta

ecame the slave of a woman. Solomon was a wise man--same result

d hurriedly.<