After All;

their very feet , was a thick train of murderous gunpowder leading into the safe , where all kinds of furniture . were placed , saturated with oil and surrounded with loose papers , and underneath them was the open head of a barrel of gunpowder . The black train led directly into this , and at the other end of the horrid snake-like explosive was a slow-match already lit and coiling up in tiny red folds . For a moment they were transfixed with fri ght at their

awful situation , but directly after Arthur stooped to the burning match , and drew it rapidly from the reach of the powder , where he stamped out all its powers of mischief . They had been within an ace of being blown up , and Arthur was only just in time . Another half minute and they would both have been launched into eternity . They had experienced a most wonderful escape . But they trembled nervously as they thought of their perilous situation . Arthur , however , now took the dangerous barrel and carrying it to the filter he emptied the latter into it , until the villainous saltpetre was thoroughly soaked .

Then , almost as in a dream , they sallied out and closed the door behind them , and meeting a constable they related some of the circumstances to him , and led him to the cashier ' s dwelling . This they considered the readiest mode of procedure , though they had little hopes of finding the man they wanted , . and the policeman had less . At last they reached the disreputable-looking habitationthe door of which stood openthough one could hardly

, , say " invitingly . '' In they went , however , and the guardian of the peace turned his bull ' s eye lantern quickly in all directions , but no one was visible . No sooner had they opened the door leading into the kitchen , though , than a horrible , sickening sight met their eyes . There , hanging to a stout hook in the ceiling , was the lank form of the miserable Bulliker , his throat bleeding .

and laudanum trickling from his lips . They all shuddered and stepped back at the ghastly sight , until the policeman strode forward ancl called upon them to help him to cut him down . It was a loathsome task , and Mr . Phane and Arthur would fain have retired from the scene . Life was certainly extinct , for he had evidently gashed his throat terribly with a knife before hanging himself , and the rope had nearly pulled his head off . Thus ended the infamous career of the man-devil Bulliker . Truly was it a night of horrors ! ( To be continued ) .

Literary Gossip.

LITERARY GOSSIP .

" rriHE Mistress of Langdale Hall , " a recently published work , from the -- * - accomplished pen of the author of " Hillesden on the Moors , " and like that book , a romance of the West Riding , has entertained and interested us more than a little . Modest in appearance as the writer is unpretentious , the single , neatly _ got up , yet withal graceful and charming volume , deserves a heartand wide

y reception and circulation among the reading public . It is as refined in style as its author is cultured ; and from first to last it carries with it a lesson , which , if taken to heart , will make the reader a better and wiser man or woman . To those who are tired and bored with the sensational , and in many cases impure , run of the novels of the day , this , work of fiction though it bewill come as a green oasis in the arid desert—as the sound of

, , running water to the ear of the parched traveller . Miss Kettle does not believe in Mr . Ruskin ' s theory , that the railway and the factory necessarily dispel the picturesque and the romantic , and she as good as shows that Pan , - Apollo , and the Muses can disport themselves just as freely and exclusively as