away from these pans," said Ills lordship. “ Well, 
her probation was not a very long one, poor child! 
I wonder how the unfortunate man came hy his 
death?" he added, musingly. “I should not 
imagine he hid done it himself; ho was the last 
man In the world to commit suicide, according to 
my judgment.” 
“Some accident, perhaps/’said Captain Murray, 
suggestively. 
‘•Or some of the household who owed him a 
grudge.” said Lord sholto. “Although it is an 
awful thing to suspect any one of murder!” 
“Awful, indeedsaid Lady Sholto, shuddering 
a little, as she slipped her Hand tlirough her hus¬ 
band s arm. “it seems very dreadful to think of 
any one dying so uuregretted!” 
“Poor fellow'! he had not time to make many 
friends In this part of t he world,” said -Lord Sholto. 
“if he has any, they are in Australia. Ills brothers 
widow Is a cold, hard woman, who, it seems, has 
not forgiven him for Inheriting t he property which 
she thinks was hers by right,” 
“The inquest was very unsatisfactory, i think,” 
said captain Murray, meditatively. “They seemed 
to ho able to discover nothing but that lie was 
poisoned by arsenic; how administered, or when, 
it seemed Impossible to ascertain.” 
“ Dr. Mackenzie laid much more stress than w r as 
necessary on Jean's absence.” said Lord Sholto. 
“ Very few women but would have sunk under 
such a blow ; and that cut on her forehead must 
have given her great pain." 
“ She was delirious for a day or two,” said ills 
wife; “and then her weakness was so extreme, 
it would have killed her to appear at that Inquest. ’ 
“Are you going there tills morning, Florid 7 ” 
said Ida, “ V otihave not, answered the question.” 
“Yes; will you come?” said Lady Sholto. “I 
will take you with pleasure; but, as 1 am going 
in the pony carriage, there is no room for Alger¬ 
non.” 
“Ida, you promised to walk with me,” said 
Captain Murray, quickly, “ nave you forgotten ?" 
“No, of course not,” said Miss Crawford, smil¬ 
ing. “ You will be very cold driving in the pony 
carriage, Flo,” 
“ I shall wrap up well,” said Lady Sholto, laugh, 
ingly “Are you coming, Ida?” 
“1 suppose 1 must not?” Miss Crawford an¬ 
swered, smiling, with a glance at her itancr. “ Al- 
gle says I am going with him.” 
“ Getting her Into training, Murray,” sail Lord 
Sholto, gaily. *• What time shall I order the 
ponies, Florle?". 
“ In hall an hour, deal',” said her ladyship, and 
as she spoke she crossed the room and went to 
Lord Ivor's side where he stood near the window. 
“Willyou come with me, Archie?” she said, 
smiling. 
“May I? Mould it be right? You know what 
I would give to see her, Flo, hut I cannot let peo¬ 
ple talk of her, poor child!” he said, eagerly. 
“ You can drive me there, and if she is well 
enough to see you, i think as an old friend you 
might be admitted,” sold Lady Sholto her affec¬ 
tion for her brother, and her pity for his anxiety 
about Jean, leading her to commit a decided 
breach or lf>8 iy>nmwnces, and Lord Ivor’s eyes 
brightened a little as his sister left him to pre¬ 
pare for the drive. 
The news of yir. Blair’s death, had come upon 
the Earl like a thunderclap, and had for a time 
overwhelmed him; then the blood had rushed 
quickly through Ills veins, his heart had beat rap¬ 
idly, furiously, joyfully. Mr. Blair’s death meant 
freedom for Jean, and freedom for Jean meant 
happinetsto them both. And ah! what happi¬ 
ness would that he! What a feast “or joy after 
its first course of misery!” 
It was so horrible, and he fell it so, to rejoice at 
a deat h, especially one so sudden and terrible; 
but he could not still the rejoicings. lie had gone 
to his room when the nows had come to them, and 
lathe solitude and stillness he had tried not to 
rejoice—he had put his head on his hands, and had 
thought of that sudden ending to a life which 
should have been great and noble and he had tried 
to be sorry lor the man who had injured him so 
terribly; bur. strive as ho might, (here wasatide 
of suffocating joy welling up in his heart which 
could not be kept back; which would rise in spite 
of all his efforts, when he thought that Jean was 
free, and that their suffering was over. 
Dow they had suffered! Of Jean’s suffering he 
could not doubt; ns physical effects upon her were 
visible enough; his poor, drooping, pale lily, bat¬ 
tered and beaten down by the storm which had 
passed over her, she would win back her roses 
when they were together again; win hack, per¬ 
haps, those old bright smiles. Ah ! no, never win 
back quite the old girlish sunshine; never the old 
mirthful smiles and bright ($irtegln-te.-ike storm 
had been too heavy for that. The girl liad become 
a woman, and her womanhood had dawned in 
darkness; hut there was a rainbow in her sky now. 
Yes, She had suffered—suffered as any loving 
woman will buffer when she thinks tlxat tkromrh 
her folly she has brought a heavy sorrow on her 
dearest one: hut had her suffering equalled his ? 
Ah! no! his had been the anguish of a strong man 
who sees his dearest earthly treasure stolen from 
his very arms; who sees the cup ot joy struck 
down when his lips had already tasted it 3 nectar; 
and he had been forced to stand still under the 
blew, and let the storm beat upon him as it. did 
upon Ms dar.lng, knowing that he was powerless 
to shelter her from the tempest. 
Those had been temble weeks which had 
elapsed between that October day when lie had 
said farewell to his love and Ids hopes in Lord 
Sholto’s study, and that morning early in the 
year when the news ot Mr. Blair s death had 
been brought to him; aDd now, in the reaction of 
his joy and his relief, he Shuddered at the thought 
of the awrul blackness ot despair which had 
shadowed his life. Again he seemed to pass 
through those sleepless nights of yearning aud 
anguish, those long, long days of sullen gloom, 
broken hy sudden outcries for revenge, of a mad¬ 
dening thirst for vengeance on the man who had 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
so cruelly avenged himself for a boyish Ill-will 
durlDg those days he had become haggard, worn, 
weary, morose aud hopeless; he had felt his life 
wrecked, his career blighted, his ambition dead 
within him. 
But now, all that was changed, hope relighted 
in his breast, ambition flamed up afresh. Jean 
had always so rejoiced In his political successes, 
and the love he bore for Jean need no longer be 
crushed and stifled; it might have free course now 
and they would be so happy—happier than they 
had ever been—happier than Urey ever would have 
been, if the trouble had never been, for they knew 
now what misery was, and the knowledge would 
but make them prize the happiness more. 
He turned away from the window when his sis¬ 
ter left him, and went out into the hall to throw 
on his great fur-lined coat. There was a light in 
his gray eyes which had been a stranger there for 
many weeks past, and there was a new, sweet 
music in Ills voice, as he thanked the servant who 
assisted him on with the overcoat, which even the 
footman could not but notice. 
Lady Shoito, coming down in her velvet and 
furs, looked at the tall, graceful figure with a smile 
In her blue eyes. It made her happy to see her 
brother thus, for they had been very anxious about 
him lately—Lord Sholto and herself. But now it 
was his old self returning—the gray eyes were 
bright, the lines In his race were smoothed out 
the gold-touched fair hair was thrown hack from 
a serene and cloudless brow. 
“ Are you ready, Florle ?’’ ho said, in his pleas¬ 
ant voice. “I hope you are well wrapped up, 
dear; the wind is very keen.” 
lie put her carefully into the carriage, and drew 
the fur rugs round her belore he got In himself ; 
then he took the reins from the groom, gave the 
ponies their heads, and they started gaily. 
It was a glorious January morning. The year 
had been ushered in by hard frost and sunshine, 
and there was a crisp, pleasant coldness In the 
air; a bright blue sky overhead, and the sunbeams 
shining on the trees or the park were clothing the 
branches with myriads of diamonds, and every 
blade of grass was sparkling with hoar-frost. 
“What a glorious morning!” said the Earl, as 
they drove on. “ it makes one happy to live!” 
“And yet what a melancholy Jacques you have 
been lately, Archie! You said that to live and to 
suffer were synonymous,” 
‘ So they hare been lately," he said, with a half 
smile. “ 1 hardly can tell now how I lived through 
It.” 
“ Poor fellow 3” 
“ And that poor child!” he went on, in a mo¬ 
ment, “ The night we were at that ball, I went to 
her. I saw her leave the room, and T followed her. 
She looked so terribly 111 and miserable, and she 
said she was longing to die. It almost-drove me 
mad, Florence. 1 conhl have takeu her from him 
then. I should have done so had I loved her less.” 
“Poor Jeanle!” sighed Lady Sholto. “Well, 
happier days are coming, Archie.” 
“Yes, thank Heaven J” 
They drove on rapidly, slackening the ponies’ 
speed as they entered the Blair Gates grounds. 
Half-way up the avenue a servant met them—a 
maid servant, who had run down to meet them, 
with her face pale with terror, her eyes streaming 
with tears. 
The Earl pulled up, his own face growing white 
with dread, as the fear of some new misfortune 
struck upon his heart, 
“Oh, my lady !” sobbed the servant, in answer 
to Lady Sholto’a agitated question, “ do you know 
what you aro saying ? Oh. 1c is dreadful!” 
“ What Is It ?” said the Earl, hoarsely. 
“ They are saying that they are going to arrest 
Mrs. Blair,” paid the girl, piteously. 
“ Arrest Mrs. Blair! You are crazy <” said Lord 
Ivor, staring at her with incredulous horror in his 
eyes. ‘ ‘ A rrest her: What for ?’’ 
“For the murder of her husband. They say 
that she poisoned him.” 
Lady Sholto uttered a little cry of pain, and 
sank back trembling, and covering her face with 
her hands. The Earl sat, with incredulous horror 
deepening In his face, uttering not a word. 
“They say she hated him!” continued the 
woman, through her sobs. Jean had been kind 
to her. aud in her calamity she was faithful 
“ They say she hated him, and that she—poisoned 
him!” 
A laugh broke from the Earl—a short laugh, 
bitter and mocking. 
“ Poisoned him!—Jean 1” he said. “ Fools and 
madmen! ’ 
That was all; but In the next moment, as he 
urged the ponies on, Lady Sholto saw that her 
brother’s face was white as death, and stern as 
the grave Itself. 
In a few moments they readied the house; the 
hall-door was thrown open, and a group of fright¬ 
ened servants were gathered round —the men 
flushed and excited, the women pale and trembling, 
A man came hastily down the broad marble steps 
and stood at the ponies’ heads; the Earl sprang 
out, gave his hand to his sister to help her out, and 
as they went up the steps together, he held her 
nogers close In a clasp which hurt her In its un¬ 
conscious vehemence. 
In a minute they were among the group In the 
great hall, who parted to let them enter, and 
the steward oi Blair Gates came hurriedly forward. 
“Thank Heaven! your lordship is here,” he 
said, huskily. “ This is a terrible business!" 
Before the Earl replied, he put his sister into a 
chair. She was laiutand trembling with terror, 
and stooping over her, he said a few reassuring 
words; then he turned to the steward calmly: 
“ What Is all this, Mr. Freeman?” 
Hastily the man explained; Mrs. Fergus Blair, 
sister-in-law of the dead man, had arrived; she 
had long interviews with the doctors and lawyers- 
the death by poison had been proved; and to one 
person only did suspicion—nay more, suspicion 
supported by proof —polut, to the wife of the 
dead mail. Words which had been overheard, 
passionate threats and menaces, the (factors’ sus¬ 
picions, Increased hy Jean’s awful terror at the 
death-bed, by her passionate refusal to be present 
at the Inquest to answer any questions, all these 
things had told against her; she was to be arrested 
that morning. 
“ I expect them here every moment, my lord,” 
added the man, with great drops of water stand¬ 
ing In Ms cold, blue eyes. Man ot business though 
he was, he could not but reel for the poor girl’s 
terrible position. “ What is to be done 7 ” 
“ Where Is she ?" said the Earl, briefly. 
“In her own apartments, my lord. She knows 
nothing. It will kill her.” 
“Who Is to toll her?” said the Earl, growing 
white to his Ups—white with a terrible pallor. 
“ She must be told; It would indeed kill her to let 
the blow fall suddenly." 
“No one dare tell her, my lord; Mrs. Collins Is 
in great distress,” said Freeman, sorrowfully. 
“Oh i my lord, it will iclli her I' 7 
The same thought was In Lord Ivor’s heart, hut 
beoould not give it utterance. In mutepaiu, 
stunned with the blow which had fallen upon him 
—striking through her he loved—he stood for a few 
moments motionless. 
“Florence, cun you do it?" he said, at last, 
bending his head down to his sister where she 
shivered In the great aim chair. 
“Oh! Archie, I cannot!” said Lady Sholto, 
faintly; and her brother saw that It was not a 
selfish dislike to trouble, but a physical inability 
which prompted her words. 
The gray pallor deepened on the Earl’s face as he 
spoke again. 
“ I must do It, then,” he said, in a voice strained 
and broken with the Intensity of his pain. “How 
shall i find the sti’englh—where shall r get the 
courage to break her heart?” 
“They are coming—they are coming!” said a 
voice from the group of startled maids, and Lord 
Ivor started. 
“ Florence, let. me take you from here,” he said, 
touching his sister's arm; and as she rose, he led 
her Into one of the Hitting-rooms, and called the 
servant who had met them in the avenue, leaving 
Lady Sholto to her care. As he turned to leave the 
room, Florence sprang up and threw her arms 
round him. 
“Oh! Archie—what can l do?” she sobbed. 
He bent, his head over her, and his Ups quivered 
with pain. 
“What can you do?” he repeated, gently. 
“ Poor child—nothing but pray for her—pray for 
me—pray that before they try her for this landed 
crime, Heaven may be merciful and take her from 
her woe.” 
As he spoke, he put her gent ly from his arms and 
placed her in a chair; then, turning slowly, left 
the room on his fearful mission. 
Men have stood bravely before a cannon’s mouth 
ere now, and met a cruel death calmly, fearlessly; 
men have walked with a smile on their pale Ups to 
their death on Die scaffold for the love of right and 
liberty, and the world has extolled their courage, 
and history has given its record, and made their 
fearless, dauntless bravery Immortal. Courage 
such as this was needed by Archibald, Earl ot Ivor, 
as he went slowly up to the room where Jean was, 
carrylug with him her sentence—a sentence more 
cruel than death!—To be continued. 
-♦♦♦- 
FACTS ABOUT PHILATELY. 
I’RAKKAMA. 
•X.—The Selection of on Album. 
The arrangement of a stamp-collection In such 
a manner that the specimens comprised In It shall 
be correctly classified, and readily examined and 
compared, Is an Invaluable aid to l lie study of Phi¬ 
lately. An album is usually employed for this 
purpose, and great care should he exercised in lls 
selection, as a mistake can only be corrected by 
buying a new album. In which case In transferring 
the stamps some ot them may be Injured. Those 
commencing the collection of postage stamps usu¬ 
ally prefer an album with spaces ruled and de¬ 
scriptions of the stamps which they are intended 
to contain; but the advanced Philatelist will find 
this Inadequate to his wants, as none published 
provides spaces for all the varieties which should 
be Included. 1 would caution beginners not to buy 
albums containing pictures of stamps; tor when, 
as Is sometimes the case, these are larger than the 
stamps they represent, the latter, when Inserted, 
will have very unsightly borders around them. 
If the Philatelist Is desirous of having exactly such 
an alburn as his collection will be displayed In 
to the best advantage, he can have nue made to 
order by any manufacturing stationer, and then 
rule spaces for every vailety he Intends to accept. 
Whatever classification Is adopted should he ad¬ 
hered to throughout, and a combination ot a geo¬ 
graphical with an alphabetical arrangement Is 
probably the best. Thus: all European postage 
stamps would be arranged alphabetically by the 
names of the countries emitting them, and would 
be separated from those of Asia, Africa, North 
America, south America, Australasia and Ocean- 
lca, the stamps of each of which divisions would 
be similarly arranged. 
The revenue stamp collector should commence 
with a blank album and arrange It throughout 
himself, as none has been published—at least, 
none that I have seen or heard of—that is com¬ 
plete enough to be worth half the price asked for 
It. Some of the finest scts ( like the United Stales 
Document stamps, the Documentos y Libras Issues 
of Mexico and the fiscal stamps or Ceylon and 
British uulaiia, are suitable for framing, and when 
thus displayed present an elegant appearance. 
Perhaps ll may be found preferable to mount 
stamps on sheets of drawing paper aud keep t hese 
in a portfolio, this method having at least one ad¬ 
vantage, that. the collection can be extended In¬ 
definitely. if an album Is Intended to contain 
cigar stamps among other kinds, it should measure 
not less than 22 Inches across the page; but If t hese 
are not collected, 11 may he much smaller. In a 
large album, however, stamps can be displayed to 
much better advantage than in a small one. I 
have seen paper of a neutral gray tint recom¬ 
mended for albums; this would bring out some 
colors flnelj', but where the stamp was of the same 
color as the paper, the effect would he entirely 
spoiled; and this seems tome to outweigh the 
advantages. The national arms and flag of a 
country aud portraits of lls rulers form very pleas¬ 
ing ornaments for an album, and their use is quite 
general. 
X.—How to Mount Stamps. 
Adhesive slumps should never he attached en¬ 
tirely to the leaves of an album. If lliis Is done 
they cannot he easily removed to make room for 
better specimens, and, what is more Important, 
their backs cannot be examined for a watermark 
or other peculiarities. A stamp maybe mounted 
very conveniently by gumming the end to a strip 
of tissue paper, which Is then folded back and 
attached to the place prepared for It. The stamp 
can thus he raffed for examination or removed 
without Id jury. A Dirt her improvement. Is the 
attachment of the tissue paper hinge to a piece 
of paper of i lie same size as the stamp, on which 
any Interesting facts about it may be written; this 
Is attached in the album by a lew dots of gum on 
the back, one at each corner being sufficient. 
Other methods of mounting adhesives may occur 
to the Philatelist, and It would be well to experi¬ 
ment on common stamps as to Improvements In 
this direction. Where stamps require washing, It 
should be done with the utmost care, so as not to 
fade the colors. The best way to remove paper 
from the backs Is to float them face up on a dish 
filled with cold water. The colors ot many Itusslan 
postage stamps aud a few others dissolve In water 
and they must be kept entirely dry. 
The best way 1 have yet seen for mounting 
entire stamped envelopes Is to cut slits In the 
pages ot the albums at dlsrances a little less than 
the sizes of the envelopes, and Insert the corners 
in them. Stamped newspaper wrappers may be 
folded and Inserted In the same way. For postal 
cards, the album published by Scott & Co., of New 
York, will probably meet The wauls oi the ama¬ 
teur, as both sides of the card are exhibited. The 
only available way for exhibiting stamped letter 
sheets, and stomped match, medicine and tobacco 
wrappers, Is to fasten them by the corners. 
If the gum used in attaching stamps is not ot 
the very purest quality, they will probably be 
mined. The best, gum arable dissolved in cold 
water should be used. Prepared mudlago should 
never be employed, as it will in time change the 
colors or many stamps, and It the gum becomes 
sour the same results will follow, it Is perhaps 
unnecessary for me to remark that the beginner 
should not cut off the peri orations of stamps, hut 
this has sometimes been done, and an equally ab¬ 
surd practice, that of cutting out the stamps from 
envelopes and wrappers is unfortunately very 
common. In consequeuce of this, many stamped 
envelopes are almost unattainable in an entire 
condition. W hen a stamp is unpertorated itshould 
never be trimmed unless cut very Irregularly, as its 
value is enhanced by a broad margin, which is t he 
only evidence that It lias not been tampered with. 
XI—The Detection of Counterfeits. 
With regard to stamps, as well as bank notes, it 
may be said that an acquaintance with the genu¬ 
ine article is the only safeguard against taking 
counterfeits, but with this knowledge It. Is usually 
easy to detect them. A large proportion oi the 
genuine stamps Issued have been engraved, and 
the Imitations of them are. frequently lithographs. 
Jf the collector would distinguish readily between 
these styles of printing, he can soon learn by ex¬ 
amining various fine specimens of engraving and 
lithography with a microscope of low power, when 
the appearance ot the work, particularly of the 
hair lines, will be found totally different.. Coun¬ 
terfeiters usually follow the prominent features of 
the design very closely and fp.ll In the details ; for 
which reason It would he well to notice small pe¬ 
culiarities, sucu as the shading or the letters, the 
closeness ot the groundwork, and when the stamp 
should be watermarked lids is usually, it not al¬ 
ways, omitted In com itc riel la. The tine geometrical 
lathe-work, which occurs In many modem stamps, 
has very seldom been Imitated so well as to be 
at all deceptive. H the Philatelist buys a stamp 
of a high denomination, and rinds the engraving 
coarser than that on a low value of the same set, 
he may conclude that it Is a counterfeit; and if a 
rare stamp Is offered at a very low price, no care¬ 
ful collector will buy It until a thorough examina¬ 
tion has proved its genuineness. Sometimes an 
enterprising swindler tries to sell stamps which 
have never had a genuine cxistoa:e; hut these 
ventures have seldom been very successful, it 
may be sarely said that it Philatelists were always 
careiul In their purchases and a trifle less eager to 
secure gieat, bargaius, they would seldom find 
that they had been victimized. 
XII.—Good Advice 
In closing this series of articles on Philately 
I would like to give those commencing the 
study a little really good advice. The first point 
I would make Is that the Philatelist should 
never buy stamps from any parties who give 
only a post office box as their address. This 
is not the way in which respectable business 
houses transact business, and Is usually done with 
a direct Intention to swindle the customer. I ant 
not awnre that a legally Incorporated company is 
In existence In the stamp business, and when such 
a style la used fraud may reasonably be expected, 
or at least a desire to avoid responsibility for mis¬ 
takes. H the collector lives In a city where there 
is a reliable stamp dealer, by nil means buy 
of him, as no advantage gained In cheapness 
can equal that of being able to select specimens at 
leisure Irani a large stock. The following dealers, 
1 believe, will be found entirely reliable, and any 
one or them will, doubtless, give satisfaction: Scott 
& CO., 146 Fulton St., New York, Wm. P. Brown, 
u.i Nassau St., New York, F. Trifet. in Court St., 
Boston, J.W. Ilaseltine, 1225 Chestnut St., Philadel¬ 
phia, L. W. Durbin, 105 s. 5th St., Phila, As I have 
