M. or N. Similia similibus curantur.""

e she brushed out Maud's wealth of raven hair for the night. Stealing glances at herself in the glass opposite, she could not he

ed that it must have left his daughter in the possession of untold wealth, and that "the young man from town," as she designated Tom Ryf

going to your aunt's now quite so soon. I'm sure I've been tha

d quietly. "Not

hat there young man from town, I suppose he wouldn't come if we could do without him, charging goodness knows what, as if his very words was gold. But I give you joy, miss, of your fortune, I do. I was a-sayin', only last night, was it? to Mr

ed Miss Bruce, "I shall not w

, imperial manner that none of the household ever dreamt it possible to dispute or disobey; but after Puckers, with a quantity of whi

ly addressing the beautiful face in the glass, "How should you like that? you with your haughty head, and your scornful eyes, and your hard, unbending heart? I know you! Nobody knows you but me! And I know how bad you are--how capricious, and how cruel! When you want anything, do you ever spare anybody to get it? Did you ever love any one on earth as well as your own way? Even mamma? O, mamma, dear, dear mamma, if you had lived I might have got better--I was better, I know I was better while I was with you. But now--now I must be myself. I can't help it. After all, it is not my fault. What is it I most covet and desire in the world? It is power. Rank, wealth, luxury--these are all very well as accessories of life; but how should I loathe and hate them if they were conditional on my thinking as other people thought, or doing what I was told! I ought to have been a man. Women are such weak, vapid, idiotic characters, in general--at least, all I meet down here. Engrossed with their children, their parishes, their miserable household cares and perplexities. While in London, I believe there are women who actually lead a party and turn out a minister. But they are beautiful, of course. Well--and me? I don't think I am so much amiss. With my looks and the position I ought to have, surely I might hold my own with the best of them. But what good will my looks

adjoining room, which had called forth Miss Bruc

watch seemed to tick with extraordinary vigour, and he

passage, but this, she remembered, was habitually locked on the inside. It couldn't be Puckers, therefore, who t

ts, her ball-dresses, her draperies of different fab

s, which traverse all large houses after midnight. There were candles burning on Maud's toilet-table, but they served rather

y in the next room--a step that moved stealthily about; a

armed the house; but when she reflected that its fighting garrison consisted only of an infirm old butler--for the footman was absent on leave--there seemed little to be gaine

the door of the little room, and la

r the instant she crossed the threshold, dazzling her eyes indeed, yet not so completely but that she made out the figure of a man standing over her shattered jewel-box, of whic

isper, and Maud was aware of the muzzle of

least frightened--only rather angry and intensel

ved, besides, almost without looking, that an entrance had been made by the window, which stood wide open to di

nly woman, with haughty, delicate face, and loops of jet-black hair, falling over robes of

rcus nor music-hall, nor gallery of metropolitan theatre at Chri

ruce showed herself e

utwards with all her force, and shut down the sash. As it closed, the

ake no resistance, for the gamekeepers watching below are a r

ming? She must be well backed, he said to himself, to assume suc

on. "Gentleman Jim," as his mates affirmed in their nervous English, became a fool of the deepes

ly rather than of intenti

e word out loud and I'll shoot

ving an alarm. They expect it, and are waiting for it every moment below-stairs. Light

stol lying on the table, ready to snatch it away if she tried to take possession. It was thus he gauged her confidence, and seeing she scarcely noticed the weapon, argued that power

Come, miss, let's cry quits. You pass me out o' this on the quiet. I dessay as I can make shift to get down without the ladder; an' I'll leave all these here gimcracks just as I found 'em. Now I've seen y

h, had no power, nay, had no wish, to resist its influence. When on such jobs as these it was his habit to observe an unusual sobriety. He was glad now to think of his adherence to that rule. Had h

e been valuable if you could have got them clear off. You must have learned your trade very badly to suppose that with such things in the house we keep no guard. Come, I am willing to believe that distr

ched as he felt in his better nature, the proletary instinct bade him try once more if her effort to get ri

ll. "It cannot matter to me," she added, in a tone of the most complete indifference, "but while I

bler's beats, albeit in winning vein, ere he lifts the box from off the imprisoned dice--as the lion-tamer's beats when he spurns in its very den t

precarious position, and to get rid of her visitor as soon as she could. Even her resolute nerves were beginning to give way, and she knew her own powers well enough to mistrust a protracted trial of

-pocket, as if heartily ashamed of it, brought out from that receptacle a pearl necklace and a pair of coral ear-ri

t a rough-and-ready chap, and you're a lady. I never come a-nigh one afore. Now I know what they mean when they talk of a real lady, and I see what it is puts such a spirit into them swells as lives with the likes of you. But a rough chap needn't be a blind chap. I come in here for to clean out your jewel-box. I tell ye fair, I don't think as I meant to have ill-treated you, and now I know as I couldn

w with a gesture in which she preserved an admirable imitation of confidence and command. Gen

there's one inside this waistcoat as will take a leap in a halter any day to please ye. You drop a line to 'Gentleman Jim,' at the Sunflower,

dismay, snatched a knot of ribbon which had fa

teps receding towards the park. Then she passed her hands over

med to lose the upper hand with him for a moment. How odd that even a man like that should be such a fo

d in a hoarse whisper, wi