" Brother Beatrice."

II . Time is the great healer , and three more years helped , if not exactly to obliterate , at least appreciably to blunt the keen sorrow of my brother ' s disgrace . It was the afternoon of the 24 th of December last year , 1892 , and I don't think I need remind such readers as I may have , a Saturday afternoon . So that I should have Dad all to myself until the following Tuesday , for Christmas day and Boxing day were dies

vore even to a busy lawyer like Mr . Lawton . We had removed from fie cottage to a prettier and roomier residence of the same type in tlie same neig hbourhood—Kew . I was not sorry , for there was much about the old p lace to remind mc of Dick in his happier and more innocent days . We had heard nothing of him since wo heard of his trouble , and sometimes I hoped—I trust not wickedly—that he had repented him of his wickedness , and been taken where sin and temptation are not .

Mr . Lawton was Into for Saturday afternoon . He was rarely after three o ' clock , and it was close upon live before he came in with a joyous Christmas greeting , and one of those trinkets for a Christmas presents to which 1 have alluded . Afler ho had kissed me , and pnfc down his hand-bag ( please note he kissed mo first ) , he opened and read , with an air of extreme annoyance , a telegram which hud arrived for him half-an-hour previously .

" Well , if this is ' nt hard lines . Pon my word , if I were at the office , I think I should swear and make it uncomfortable all round for the clerks , ' peace and goodwill ' season though it is . " " What's the matter , Dad ?" "Read that , and see , Brother Beatrice , " he answered , handing me the telegram , which thus ran : —¦

" To Lawton , Roscdalc , Kow . " Sir Charles Kenion dangerously ill . Come at once concerning alterations in will . Business admits of no delay . "D . \ Nh \ s . " Danks , as I knew , was the name of Sir Charles ' s sfeward , and T returned Mr . Lawton the wire glumly enough , for 1 had planned out a happy and cosy Christmas eve .

"Well , I shall have to go , and pray the Fates and the railway company to get me back in time 'to let Christmas in . ' Poor lawyers , like beggars , who , by the way , are solicitors after their own fashion , can't be choosers . " And , in spite of his pique , Dad chuckled over his little , his very little joke .

" Come , hurry up , housekeeper , lie continued , " get me some cold beef and pickles , fill up my brandy flask , and I'll look out the next train to Leatherhead . " Sir Charles Kenion ' s place was near Leatherhead , and , what with the changing at , Clapluun junction , and the irregularity of the trains generally at this particular season , 1 began to have grave misgivings concerning Dad's ability to return , as he hoped , by midnight .

"Here , Brother Beatrice , don ' t run away with that , " he cried , as I was about to take his bug , as usual , into the adjoining room—his ' sanctum " as he called it . "There are three hundred pounds in crisp Bank of England nofes in ( hat hag , young lady , and 1 must not lose sight of it until the money is safely deposited in the only available safe here—niv desk . "

Nadu-ally enough , 1 asked why he had brought so large an amount of money to the cottage . ' Bectiii . se , my dear , I'd no choice in the matter . I ' ve had to hand over some deeds in exchange—to put it technically— ' complete a conveyance' at , Moitluke , too late for me to bank the purchase money , so , " he added , laughing , " you and Susan must mount guard in the sunotnm until 1 return . "

Su sail was the one maid our household required . "You forget , Dad , " 1 said , " you gave Susan leave to spend Christmas Day with her people , and she ' s gone , so that I shall lie ihe solitary sentinel . " " I've a good mind not to go at all , " he observed afler a moment ' s reflection . " I don't like leaving you alone to mope on this of all nights in flic year , Bend-ice . "

" Nonsense , Dad ! " 1 10 , 1 ! ied bravely . "Remember that the telegram says ' dangerously ill . ' Besides , you know , I ' m accustomed to solitude . "Very well , " he mm mured , "but I'll be back to-night if I have to charter a special train . Bring the lamp , and let us lock up these notes . "

Light in hand , I preceded him ( o the library , where he placed the money in a drawer of his desk , which he secured under lock and key , and went off up-sttiirs to prepare for his journey . For a moment or two I was left alone in the room , and 1 went to draw the blind and curtains over the window which looked out upon our little lawn .

As I did so , 1 distinctly saw a pair of eyes , set in a pale , forbidding-looking face , peering info Ihc apartment from the other side of tin ; pane I could not be , I vus not mistaken . I am neither a nervous girl , 1101 . 1 fanciful one . I was in good , robust health , and not in any such condition as to allow imagination to play such tricks

upon me . Ojiictly , so that Mr . Lawton might not hear me , for it would be to no useful end to unsettle his mind , even ever so slightly , I went to the front dour and made a rapid survey of the garden , There was nobody to he seen or heard , and I concluded that , some pom-wretch of a beggar or trump had intended applying for alms , ami had altered his mind at the last moment . For a few minutes , I

" Brother Beatrice."

am bound to confess , the circumstance made me uneasy . Perhaps it was the consciousness that Dad was going away , that Susan had gone away , and that 1 should be alone in the house with what seemed , in my modest eyes , a very large sum of money . But long before Dad had started , I was myself again , and inwardly denounced myself for my momentary cowardice .

1 heard in the distance the rumble of the train which bore him away , and then I made up a good fire , intending to settle down to a genial and seasonable novel that I had taken from the local library that very morning . But it was not to be . I had scarcel y read " a couple of pages before there was a rat-tat-tat at the front door . I answered it , and found a diminutive bov , who handed me a note , and

disappeared before I had time to identif y him , let alone read the missive he had given me . It was a request that I would " very kindly " go up as soon as possible to Mrs . Craven ' s cottage , as Mrs . Craven herself had been " took " seriously ill , and her only daughter , Maggie , had gone up to London , and would not return until much later . What with Sir Charles Kenion , and then Mrs . Craven ( who

was one of my village pensioners , and an especial favourite ) " serious illness " was , I thought , alittlc severe on our household that evening , and I was iniquitous enough to resent the hardship . Then I fell a ' thinking , and , somehow , uncomfortable , not to say ugly , suspicions succeeded my thoughts . Why had Mrs . Craven ' s messenger hurried off in such a mysterious and unreasonable fashion ? Was that figure

at the window onl y that of a beggar and a tramp after all ? And why should Mr . Lawton be called away , and Mrs . Craven ( who was well and cheery enough yesterday ) be taken " seriousl y ill , " and require my attendance , when there was a sum of three hundred pounds in the house ? " Merely coincidence , " was the answer my

more womanly self gave me , but that was a solution which afforded me only a very " creepy " kind of " consolation . If I had not seen those villainous eyes and that treacherous white face in the weird gloom of the night , T mi ght perhaps have felt no fear or hesitation in the matter . But now well . I would sit down a while and think it out .

A quarter of an hour decided my course of action . I could not for the life of me analyse or define the reasons which led me to arrive at my decision ; but , though it might be a weak and , possibly , an unchristian one , it was unalterable . I would not go to see Mrs . Craven , be the old woman ever so ill . She lived nearl y a mile and half away , and , in all the circumstances ,

I persuaded myself it would not be quite discreet forme to leave the house . And then I sat down to my book again ; but I found myself reading the same passage two or three times over , and then the words seem to run into each other in such an erratic and unbecoming way as to make me close the volume impatiently , and give up literature that night as a hopeless pursuit . 1 tried the piano , but ( yes , to

my humiliation , I acknowledge it ) ever and anon I kept turning my head to make sure that the face was not peering over my shoulder at the music before me . Needlework turned out similarly a failure , and , though I pumped up a defiant laugh at the thought , I was compelled , in very honesty , to acknowledge that I was a little unstrung ,

and that , after all , 1 was only a poor , weak , nervous English girl . The solitude and silence of the house became unbearable , and , after much struggle , I decided to walk two or three hundred yards up the road which skirted the cottage , and trust to the sharp night air to bring me back again to my senses .

I put 011 my hat , threw around me a warm , woollen wrap , carefully locked the door after me , and started off . I had not , been out ten minutes before 1 felt ashamed of my temerity , and almost audibly condemned myself as " a little fool , " and , renewed in strength and courage , I commenced my return journey . But when I regained the garden gate , it was to make the startling discovery that I hail not been such a fool after all .

from the gate I could plainl y see the library window , and at tlie outside of this two men stood . / One was examining the catch , or fastener , of this window , whilst the other held for his assistance a small lamp known as a " bull ' s eye " lantern . I had no doubt in my own mind as to their character . They were burglars ; and then the conviction flashed across me that the Mrs . Craven message was a " put iij ) " fraud , and that even then they , its originators , had

concluded that I had left the house 111 obedience to the summons . But , strangely enough , now I had no fear whatever , and 1 think that I should have rushed upon them , girl and single-handed though I was , when a sudden discovery , paralysed me , so to speak , and a horrible chill seemed to come over my heart . By a sudden turn of the lantern 1 saw that the man who held it was the same whom I had seen through the pane , and that he who had tampered with , and had now forced the window bolt , was my brother Dick .

111 . Stealthily the pair entered , the library , and treading on tip-toe across the lawn 1 hid in the shadow of the verandah which surrounded the house , and from which 1 could see their every action and hear ( heir every word . My brother spoke first . •' Well , Parley , now we are here , we seem to have the game pretty well fo ourselves . "

"Trust . 1 i 111 Parley for that , " returned the other { with a grim smile . " But there ' s no time to lose , and we'd better do the job , and get away without cackling about it . " " Hut what is the job ? " Dick asked . "Child ' s play , " returned Parley . "There are three hundred pounds worth of bank notes in that desk , and we must have ' em out , that ' s all . "