Miss Caprice

tudent looks

e?" he ask

he tender associations and thoughts of his lonely year

he time I was in Paris with my

re about that time, as

dusk when we were returning from the boul

nses, and bade the driver tie his hors

g myself alone I grew alarmed. From windows frowzy heads were thrust out and rude women mocked at me. I f

, miss, I will

bles with

bliss that would be for me-my mother, m

knew I could trust her. Bes

b?" wond

her to an adjoining house. She begged me to sit down and await the vehicle. I was grateful and a

. She told me she was known as Sister Magda

ady Ruth-how did

sad, yet oh, so inexpressibly sweet. It haunted me. I have looked at every siste

of medicine. The desire to find his mother has been the one aim of his life; it has c

of his solicitude, and his anticipation so long a

d her hand. It makes you seem less a stranger to me t

d she had a medallion secured around her neck with a guard, and

ribe it i

He wore a mustache and small side whiskers. I judged he

raig s

doubt has be

ize this pi

I have not the slightest doubt that it was the one I seek who render

e my most sincere wishes for success; and if I can in

thank you. I must leave you now, to seek the house in th

ation to reach its legitimate end, and John, with a pleasant word for Aunt

his surprise he is stopped near the door by some one he knows-Phil

hurry," he says, as the

" pipes the little professor, shutting one

eving the other thinks it is his intention to see the si

trada Mez

?" ejaculates the man of medic

nd a dused sight more than some people thi

know-come t

past, and the trouble

f me before? This explains the manner in which you see

his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the parlor above, wh

ou see me, a docile, hen-pecked man. Twenty-five years ago Philander Sha

professor," groans Joh

fully believed stole her heart away from me, but all these years I have never forgotten

back in a peculiar way he has. How strangely full

never breathed a word o

me was not ripe. I said

you sp

nsidering the matter, came to the conclusion that it was time to speak-time to l

o or say, he is so amazed a

learn anything about my mother at the house where s

an wags his

elieved to be Signor Stucco, otherwise Luther Keene,

ies John, w

her business, and oblivious of the fact whether one John Al

the curiosity of the

me who it is plays with me, the object he has, and whethe

re. These enemies of yours, dear boy, have b

r! why should the

haps some event in your past may give you a clew. Hav

ng man

have," pursues

ss, but my boyish passion for her die

ever forgiven you. What h

sence of several who were at supper with her, a new admirer among them. Perhaps she hates me for that, but i

s here. I'v

f to be maligned. I believed you were a nonentity, but I find y

company you on this errand. I will then have a chance

reason t

e off," with a quick g

orroborated, for a burst of almost masculine laughter comes floating

see the modern Mabille in Paris and have never hear

will, pr

ection between Pauline Potter, the actress who won his boyish admiration only to deceive him, and she whom

essor guesse

ohn, though you shall be the ju

plea

ot that there is anything of the inky pall about this, throwing a silvery path way along the mysterious waters of the romantic sea, and besides, the lanterns th

know these facts connected with the presence of Pauline Potter in Valetta, a

n, I had business in another section, business connected with my trip a

down a street, thinking to shorten my route, but in a way became confu

d of fate leading me on, a

new the skeleton that lay hidden in your family closet, and believing

ardon for the fact, confess that I heard y

or!" in

rner of the little parlor, for an after-dinner nap, when you came in and failed to

en I heard you telling her your sad story and the new hopes you entertained, I fe

tta and forced to inquire my way. As luck would have it I saw

ay something that gave me a thrill, and a

of Valetta's police. Now give me orders; tell me how I am to win your favor; how bring to the Strada Mezzodi-' I hear

e, professor; p

soft-voiced woman at dusk. It takes time for me to figure things out, and I must be beyond the range of her voice. That was one reason I lay down in the little parlor. When I heard you

creature, and doubtless possessed of more than a

her mother w

d it is easy to realize the fact now. Pauline i

vestigating your record-the skeleton in your clos

no accident, her presence in th

epresent the head of the Valetta police, for they knew you had invoked official ai

e we are!"

s the Strad

ions to it?

altese city, where you seem to be climbing to paradise or

prof

services of a friend before long-that you are about to experien