Mildred: An Autumn Romance.

distasteful , indeed hateful , to me . Yet marriage is after all so far sacred to me that though I loathe the Avoman I am bound to , and could not preA'ail upon myself to see her again , yet I cannot forget that I have been in a measure myself alone to blame , ancl I seek no release , since it Avould injurp her . Were she poor I might eA'en entreat you to spare her of your Avealth , but penury I knoAV AA'ill not be her fate , for her father is Avealthy ( Avith iE-gotten riches ) , ancl she is his only chEcl . I have forged my own chains

, ancl I must be content to AA'ear them . I have made my OAA ' bed , ancl I must sleep on it . Let her keep my name , not much honour has it brought her yet . She has injured me , but I AVIE not be a party to injure her by seeking a release , AA'hich AVIE only bring reproach upon her and make her life more unhappy than it is IIOAV . " " You seem to forget me , sir , " the General said Avrathfully " I beg your pardon , father , but I cannot do it . "

" You We brought disgrace upon the family . " "I admit it and regret it , but-1 should only injure you more if I brought it into the Law Courts , ancl made our name a laughing stock through my OAVU foEies . No , father , I have resolved to Avear my chains . " The meeting Avas OA'er , ancl Marmaduke had gone to his room ' , leaving his father in a toAA'ering rage . Late as it Avasthe General did not faE to summon the butler and one

, of the footmen to his study , ancl taking a large parchment from his escritoire , added a codicil to his AA'EI Avhich left the AA'hole of his property to his eldest son , and made Marmaduke a beggar . The next morning Captain MatheAv left his father ' s house AA'ith his father ' s curse upon his head .

CHAPTER YIII . AXD AVHAT THOUGHT SHE ? THE next day aE Avas knoAvn . The General bound no one to Secrecy . He AA'as - angry A'ery angry , as any one coidd see . EA'en the Avay in Avhich he mounted his horse

shoAved that he Avas "in a deuce of a AA'ay about sunnm . it , " so the groom remarked to the stable-boy . Within an hour of his leaA'ing the house he AA'as brought back a corpse . It appeared at the inquest that it Avas the merest accident . The General had been ambling carelessly over a part of the road at the bottom of the Great Wh yte , evidently little heeding AA'hat Avas going on around himAA'hen his horso suddenly slippedthreAV

, , her rider on to his head , broke his neck , and he died almost in a moment . The mare , a thorough-bred , it appeared , had not eA'en faEen herself ; but his end had come , as ours must too . Let us pray against sudden death , for it is an aAAiid thing . Marmaduke had left England that night , and gone across to AntAA'erp , and then on to Bruges and through Flanders . It AA- ; IS AA'eeks before he heard of his father's death , and then it Avas only to learn that he had left him a beggar .

He immediately took steps to sell out of his regiment , ancl on the proceeds of the sale of his commission he resolved to liA'e for the present , determining to study at AntAA'erp , and see AA'hether the talents AA'hich Mr . Bethune used to say he possessed as an amateur Avould serve him now as a professional artist . Then an awful calamity came upon him , a fearful retribution for all the misdeeds of his youth . ( ' To be continued . )