The Volume Of The Sacred Law.

" My good girl , what are you talking about ? Where ' s Mrs . Oakhurst ?" "She went with mistress , sir . " And then the girl burst out crying , and said she thought there was something the matter . Earl Culverhouse stood for some moments in the hall without

making the slightest effort to understand her . Gertrude had never without his knowledge left the house before , and it had been arranged between them when he was at Chertsey but ten days ago that he would return some time during the second week of the New Year . He took his coat off and went up to his bedroom to change

his clothes , which were wet through . Everything upstairs seemed in its place and the gas alight . A fire was prepared in the diningroom on the ground floor , and yet Ellen bad said her mistress and Mrs . Oakhurst had been

away since Boxing Day . He almost laughed , for there must be some huge joke on . Seating himself at the table , where he had so often partaken of those little meals tete-a-tete

with his wife , he pondered over the curious web of misfortunes that seemed to be winding itself around him . " Come here , Ellen , and tell

me all about it now . Where has your mistress gone to ? " " I don ' t know , really , sir . Mrs . Oakhurst wa . s taken ill two days before Christmas Day , whilst she was reading in her room . She fainted , 1

think , mistress said . But the same night she went up to London , and did not return ' again till Boxing - morning early . Then mistress and her

packed up two large boxes —mistress crying all the time —and caught the 3 . 15 train to town , telling us they would not be back for a few days ,

but that we were to expect them at any moment , or you , sir ; and , should you come before they did , we were to tell you to look in the safe in

mistress ' s room . " Never before had a presentiment of evil crept into his heart so readily as it did now . Without one shade of

doubt be believed the girl was speaking the truth ; and , with a sickening sensation in his throat , he bounded ut ) the

"HE PONDERED OVER THE CURIOUS WEI ! OF MISFORTUNES , "

What could it mean ? Was all the world mad ? Was his wife mad , and Mrs . Oakhurst , as well as Dr . Gould and Mr . Ford ? He was told that his father—in the prime of life— surrounded by all the comforts of existence—suddenly ends that existence by poison ; and now they want him to believe that he is not the lawful husband of

his own wife ! He has no wife ; and into the deep snow he must go again , friendless and more weary than before , along the silent highway , by the river , running on and on , never turning from its onward march . At the head of the weir was a sunken barge . Plow like his hopes , he thought . But he did not stay to watch the stream ; he

must get back to London , the meridian of all trouble , to which all weary hearts are drawn as with a magnet . " You know my wife , Blake , don ' t you ? " he asked the bookingclerk , engaged for the moment

m grilling a herring on the booking-office fire . " Of course , I do , Mr . Rawlinson . She sent my wife two bottles of wine the other day , sir , because she heard

somehow that the doctor had ordered her to have some . " " Did she , Blake ? I ' m glad of that . But can you tell me where Mrs . Rawlinson

booked tickets for on Tuesday ? " " Tuesday , sir?—now , let me see—Tuesday ! No ; that I can ' t , sir , for sure ; but I ' ve

an idea it was Waterloo . " " Not certain , Blake ? " " No , sir ; not certain . " " Well ! give me a single ; and , Blake , buy the wife some more wine , will you ? What is it—weakness ? "

" Yes , sir—and a boy ! " He did not stay to hear the thanks the booking-clerk was offering him through the little ticket-window , but he

was thinking how much gratitude could be purchased for a £ 5 note , and how long it would be before he reached London . Not a train for

twenty minutes ! He went back to Blake to send a telegram to Mr . Ford , asking him to come down south at once , and go straight to the

town house in Cavendishsquare . This telegram reached Mr . Ford at 6 . 30 . An hour later

he left Durham on his journey south ; at ten minutes past two a . m . he arrived at King ' s-cross , and a few minutes later he was seated in the morning-room of 14 , Cavendish-square . ¦ * * * * In Wellington-street , Strand , opposite the stage - door of the

Gaiety Theatre , is a house let out in suites of rooms . A patent medicine man occupies the ground floor . On the floor above is a Mr . Miller . The name is engraved on the brass-plate at the door , but what he is nobody seems to know and nobody seems to care . The second floor is occupied by an architect , a young man of

feminine inclinations , who parts his hair down the middle , and recites at smoking concerts . His name is also engraved upon a brass-plate , and is painted on his door . He designs cathedrals , but

stairs to the safe where Gertrude had kept her little stock of jewelry and money . He found nothing but a letter addressed to himself . It ran thus : — MY DEAR RICHARD , —The hand of fate , which drops upon many , and crushes many , and kills many , has dropped upon us and you .

You must never see Gertrude again ; it is her wish , as it is mine . We trust you will not hear of our flight until we are safe from being followed . We know who you arc , and that you are a good ¦ man and the son of a good father , but you are not the lawful husband of my daughter . Forget us both as if we were dead , and accept from us the thanks which fill our hearts . There are sins which even God cannot refuse to pardon . Such sins are ours . —Your grateful

and faithful , ELIZADEIII OAKHURST . Utterly crushed as he was with the events of the past week , this new trouble for a moment was too much for him .