6 "^ , 1 13 
THE EKOWN LUSTRE JUG. 
491 
loosed to Iiave given me characters. It was a joke, 
too, to see my wife, Jane Grayson, sitting in that 
chair engaging her own husband as her bntler, as if 
she had never washed a disli or cooked her own 
dinner in her life. I must say, Jane, you ’ve picked 
up the way of it all something Avonderfuh’ 
Mrs Stradford moved impatiently. 
‘After three weeks I found the joke a bit thin, 
and I’m a bit out of practice in the waiting line, so 
I thought I’d give you a reminder by putting the 
jug on the tray. You used to be A'ery fond of tliat 
'jug, Jane. Don’t you remember my buying it for 
you at Trendlesham Fair when you were sewing- 
maid to old Lady Hexworth 1 I nearly died of 
lauMiintr the other night when Ladv Catharine 
Laneside came to dinner. What would she have 
said if I had told her that Mi’s Stradford was the 
Jane Parsons who used to make her dresses when 
she was a little girl, and do her mother Lady 
Hexworth’s- hair when the lady’s-maid was ill V 
The malice underlying the banter was unmistak- 
able. Mrs Stradford shivered. A 
‘You must give me time,’ she said huskily. >/A 
place like this cannot be got rid of in a day. lanust 
make arrangements — in a fortnight you sjaall have 
my answer.’ y' 
‘You had better not play any tricl^ he retorted 
threateningly, as she moved round iJie desk. 
‘You may be sure I shall d(y4A"erything to save 
myself,’ she answered, coming elose to him; ‘but you 
have me in a tight place. I/see I shall have to give 
np Retley; but I’ll never live with you; no,’ as he 
M'as about to speak, Gfot even if you threaten to 
kill me, as you di^ once before. And if you do 
kill me you will 1^ a joauper.’ 
She threw open the door before he could j)revent 
her. A foMman was in the hall mending the fire. 
‘Then wish to leave at once, Brigswell ?’ she 
asked oMdly, turning and looking into the room. 
Theban was taken aback by her resource. There 
■\p(s a pause. 
‘No, ma’am,’ came the answer. ‘If convenient 
to you, I should prefer to stay my month.’ X 
‘As you please,’ she answered, crossing^o the 
staircase. As she reached the landiugyUie clock 
struck the quarter. / 
‘ Brigswell ! ’ she called, leaning f^ev the stair- 
rail. y' 
‘Yes, ma’am,’ deferentially fr^i below. 
‘Tell them in the kitchen/to put dinner back a 
quarter of an hour. I anr late. Then she passed 
with calm sedateness to her room. 
‘The brown lustre^ig belongs to Brigswell,’ she 
said to Lord Fethaf'ell at dinner. ‘You must a.sk 
him about the ppice.’ 
Brigswell almost dropped the decanter he was 
holding. Hfs wife’s audacity unnerved him. 
‘It Av^ts quite a mistake, my lord,’ he said 
hurrie^a ‘I just put it down on the tray, and 
it was carried into the drawing-room before I 
kjfew.’ 
‘Lord Fetherell would like to buy it from you, 
Brigswell,’ said Mrs Stradford grimly. 
‘ I couldn’t }3art with it, my lord,’ the man 
answered with the same haste. ‘ It was all a mistake. 
It Avas neA'er meant to go into the draAving-room.’ 
‘You must talk to BrigSAvell about it afterAA’ards,’ 
Mrs Stradford said to her guest. ‘ You may be able, 
perhaps, to persuade him to part with it. It is a 
pretty jug.’ 
BrigSAvell’s hand shook so Auolently that he spilt 
the Avine on the tablecloth. Years of prison had 
.shaken his nerA’es for moments of emergency. The 
iJump, amiable Avoman sitting at the head of the 
table Avith diamonds in her AAdaite hair and on the 
black AMvet of her dress, talking so easily and so 
naturallj^ of the link that bound her AA'itb an ugly 
past, knoAving that Avith one sentence he, her butler 
and her husband, could shatter the regard Avith 
AA'hich she Avas surrounded, paralysed him. He AA’as 
amazed, yet A’aguely fearful. 
{To he continued.) 
THE PASSING OF THE AMEPvICAN PASSENGER PIGEON. 
By AY. B. Mershon, SagiiiaAV, U.S.A. 
NTRODUCTORY to my subject, I 
Avill reproduce the folloAving story 
Avritten by myself and never before 
offered to the printer. 
From a paper published in my 
OAvn toAAm, dated April 8, 1873, I 
have clipped the folloAving : ‘ The sky has been 
filled Avith Avild pigeons to-day ; commencing at 
about 7.30 this morning, a continuous stream of 
pigeons has been passing OA^er the city up to about 
4 P.M.’ 
Such an item in a neAA^spaper to-day AAmuld 
occasion great surprise, as much as if Ave Avere to 
read of some trans-continental train in the AVest 
being stopped for hours by the passage of a 
herd of buffalo ; j’et it is not hard for me to 
remember the time AA’hen it seemed as if there 
Avould always be plenty of buffalo and Avild pigeons, 
as if their countless number could not be lessened, 
and farthest from our thoughts AA’as the idea that 
they could be completely exterminated in so short 
a time. 
My first shooting as a boy was at wild pigeons. 
As I AA’as living in AAdiat AA’as then the backAvoods, 
eagerly AA’as the spring looked foi'AA’ard to for the 
first flight of pigeons. It Avas the sign of spring. 
I remember as a youngster, on the 1st of April, 
I used to ‘April fool’ my mother by standing at the 
AvindoAV early in the morning and calling her to 
see the flock of pigeons, only to say, ‘ April fool.’ 
