fitting you should be wandering about this rough country without someone to guard you."

"Tilly vally!" cried the girl, forgetting her gravity. "I believe 'tis jealous of my sharp eyes you are! Why, what would the wolves be doing among these bare rocks? There's nothing so tempting to fetch them or the rapparees here! No, no, if any one were with me 'twould spoil my luck entirely. 'Tis my own self and no one else can find the treasure. I'm as sure of it as if it were writ in the Gospel."

"No, Kate," interrupted her father; "Denny is in the right: I judge from what your aunt here says 'twas in no very safe place your grandfather buried it, and I won't have you going alone and very like breaking your neck over the cliffs. Get some of the girleens from Drinagh to scramble after you, they are as nimble as wild goats, then you may seek if you please; though I doubt your search will be like the bohreen that's ever going to the farm and never gets there." "Now stop, daddy, 'tis the wrong proverb you have entirely. There's no bohreen without a turning, is the true saying, and it's just as true that I am going to turn out of our lane of ill-luck before the week is over," and with a merry laugh she sprang away from them and disappeared among the ruins.

"Sir, that's not your last word for me," asked Dennis wistfully; "won't you be waiting a little to see if we won't have luck in the search?"

"I'm a soft-hearted old fool," grumbled Colonel Cary, "but you're young yet; 'twill do you no harm to waste a month or so, if you are so bent on it. But mind, if nothing turns up in that time you must be off; 'tis no good boys get idling at home at a girl's apronstring."

The sun sank lower, opal tints

flushed across the smooth sea, the distant islands glowed like amethysts; and the bleak barren country was changed for a moment into a fairy land of promise, strewn with gold and jewels. The gentlemen finished their tobacco and bade each other goodnight, and gray silence crept over the land. .

"Where is Kitty?" asked Anne, coming to the door at supper-time. “Faith, I thought she was within there with you," answered Colonel Cary: "I hope she's not on that wild-goose chase after the treasure. I was a fool not to stop her vain talk, and now 'tis too dark entirely for her to be straying about the cliffs. I'll go and call her in."

The opposite cliffs echoed back his voice with "Kate, Kate." A startled seagul dashed past him, laughing and chuckling as though it mocked his useless shout. "Put the supper by, Nan," said Colonel Cary. "I don't feel at ease at all about the foolish child," and he started across the broken terrace down the path to the shore.

Long that night Anne Cary sat waiting and praying by the door. The vague fear that had stirred at Colonel Cary's words crept closer to her in the darkness and took shape, but she would not see it. Vehemently, urgently, she prayed; let all go, all be lost, house and country be taken from them, so the child were spared. How could she have rebelled at flying from Ireland four years before when she had her Kitty safe beside her! "Only one thing, good Lord, only one thing in all the world-give us back our child!" she moaned.

Not till the moon had set did Roger Cary return, and he returned alone.

""Tis no use groping in the dark," he groaned. "I must wait for dawn. Denny O'Driscol has been with me; 'tis a warm heart that boy has, God

help him, and his dog is as eager as a Christian to help search," and he flung himself on the settle and buried his face in his cloak.

Anne piled more turf on the fire, whose blaze shone out like a beacon through the open door, and sat down once more on the step, but not to pray. Her heart was numb, her cold hand moved backwards and forwards, smoothing the cold stone that had been wet with her father's life-blood, as she murmured: "Yes, father, your curse may come home, I have not saved the child."

At the first gray glimmer of dawn Colonel Cary sprang from his seat. He dared not meet Anne's eye, but turned away his head as he said hoarsely, ""Tis most likely she has strayed over towards Drinagh, and will be sheltering in one of the cabins there. Tell Denny that's where I've gone, if he comes by."

Even as he spoke on the gray hillside opposite there was a movement, dim figures coming towards them. Anne gave a cry; she knew suddenly that she had been lying to herself, she Temple Bar.

had not given up hope, it was as strong, as certain as ever. But as the figures drew nearer she saw it was but Dennis with his great dog stalking solemnly behind him. No she was mistaken, it was not only Dennis; what had he in his arms?

Colonel Cary sprang out past her and drew the lifeless form into his bosom. No arms but her father's should carry the cold little body of Katherine Cary into her desolate home.

66

""Twas on your own strand the tide left her," groaned Dennis, and fell on his knees, hiding his face in the wet folds of the girl's gown.

Her yellow hair was tangled with sand and seaweed, but a half smile still played round her pale lips, and one little cold hand clutched a cup, a silver christening-cup. Katherine had kept her vow. She had found the hiding-place of the lost treasure, but her pale lips would never say the word that would bring back fortune to the Carys. She carried her secret away with her into the silent land.

Dorothea Townshend.

Notwithstanding the incidence of taxation, the growth of the butcher's bill, and the expansion of the coal merchant's account, the market in relics has for some time past been of a distinctly firm character, the "bulls" for the most part having everything so entirely their own way that the "bear" is likely to become as rare as the legendary dodo. All sorts and conditions of celebrities have been represented in the relic market of late, from Kruger to Charles "le Roi," whose remains have proved in the 912

LIVING AGE.

VOL. XVII.

past, as in the present, veritable gold mines to those who possess them. Relics of Shakespeare and Garrick, Wellington, Napoleon, and Nelson, Gladstone and Beaconsfield, have also occupied the attention of purchasers within the last few months; but George III., Sir Walter Scott, Goldsmith, Louis XV. (whose gold snuffbox, enamelled after Fragonard, created such excitement when it realized 3,3501. in 1898), have rarely been mentioned; while Jean Jacques Rous'seau, whose collar of brown hol

land, with his initials "J. J. R." in red on the inner side, an article of attire referred to more than once in his letters, that was up for auction three years ago, has not been honored with a quotation for many months. The article of attire once the property of the martyred King Charles that found its way into the market recently was a coat of blue silk embroidered with silver, with the sleeves and pocket turned up with scarlet cloth and lined throughout with red silk. This garment, a very precious relic, the King was wont to don on State occasions, and at other times to keep at Broughton Castle, in Oxfordshire, the seat of Lord Saye and Sele. The price obtained for the coat, 251. 48., although it failed to attract any attention at the time of the sale, at which, by the way, the hide of the unfortunate French horse Holocauste, who was shot after meeting with an accident in the race for the Derby of 1899, was knocked down for 21. 58., was distinctly disappointing, especially when compared with the sum, 2107., given in 1898 for the fine sky-blue silk vest thirty-two inches long, which was worn by the King on the day of his execution. It was, perhaps, the fact that the vest was stained in several places with the blood of the martyred monarch that so greatly enhanced its value, for it not only eclipsed the price given for the Broughton Castle relic, but exceeded by 251. five times the value set upon one-half of a cloak worn by him on the same fatal thirtieth of January, 253 years ago, which was sold in 1899 for 371. The other half of the cloak, we gather, must be in the possession of the Royal family, for it is recorded that it was sold to Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Fourth George.

Although the figure representing the sum which the First Charles's coat of State sold for on the last occasion

furnished something of a surprise to the collector of relics, he ought not to have been altogether unprepared, in view of the fact that in February, 1898, a Court waistcoat, embroidered and worked in colored silk, that was once the property of the Second Charles, "Le Roi No. 2," was knocked down for nine guineas. The nightcap worn by Charles I. on the night before his execution was presented to the Carisbrook Castle Museum about three years ago by Queen Victoria, and will consequently never figure in the auction-room; but in the unlikely event of the Wellington Pennells disposing of the King's white kid hawking gauntlet, embroidered with silver, that has been in their possession for over 200 years, or Mr. Beeston, of Market Drayton, selling the gloves worn by the King on the scaffold, and Lord Essex parting with the portion of the Garter donned by the ill-fated Charles on the same occasion, they and other possessors of relics of a kindred nature will have in the above figures a gauge whereby they can obtain an idea of the sums they may expect to receive.

When the blue velvet saddle embroidered in gold, with its stirrups of fine gilt bronze that was once the possession of Dom Pedro II., ex-Emperor of Brazil, and the green velvet saddle embroidered in silver and gold, once the property of the Empress Amélie, widow of Dom Pedro I., realized as much as 801. two years last July, the handsome price obtained on the occasion of the sale proved beyond a doubt that the vendor had exercised considerable discrimination in choosing the date of the auction, in which respect he was closely followed by the individual who arranged to sell several Napoleonic relics on the anniversary of Waterloo Day three years ago. Relics of the great Napoleon are always eagerly sought after, as is

.

evinced by the fact that when in 1899 a silver-gilt sword, chased with classical ornament, and contained in the original leather-covered travelling case affected by Bonaparte when on tour, was put up to auction, it fetched no less than 6501. At another sale the same year a glass-tipped drinking goblet or tumbler used on similar occasions by the great soldier fetched 15l. 158., or 15s. more than a small silver teapot, in an oak box, that was used by the Iron Duke on his later campaigns (the Dublin Hall-mark bears the date 1807), realized about the same time.

These figures would suggest that further search in the State lumber-rooms of the French Government might be profitable, insomuch as at the last battue at the one-time head-quarter offices of the Paris garrison, in May, 1899, there were unearthed, in an old garret, all the pots, kettles, pans, and moulds, all marked with a First Empire crown and the initials "G. I.," comprising the batterie de cuisine of the officers of the Imperial Guard of the Great Napoleon, that would doubtless fetch a considerable sum if put up for sale. In July, 1900, а silver-gilt snuff-box, embossed with a wreath of vine leaves and grapes, "Presented," as the inscription inside tells us, "to Archd. Arnott, surgeon of His Majesty's XXth Foot, by Napoleon Bonaparte, on his death-bed at St. Helena, 1821," excited no little interest amongst those collectors affecting the Napoleonic era. The box, which bore on a panel the letter "N" roughly scratched by the dying man before he gave it to the doctor, fetched 1401., or about seven times the sum obtained for a lock of Napoleon's hair, which, with a handkerchief that realized the modest sum of 188. (an outlay that purchased in 1899 a piece of the stump cut off the stake at which Bishop Hooper was

burnt in St. Mary's Square, Gloucester), was sold on the same day.

Earlier in the year, when Chantrey's bust of Scott realized 2,250 guineas, and a small tortoise-shell and silvermounted casket, "Presented to Mrs. David Garrick by her esteemed friend Samuel Johnson, 1762," sold for 1201. 158., a pair of pistols, once the property of Napoleon I., fetched 471. 58. The Napoleon legend was very much in evidence that year. Of literary relics, the MS. diaries formerly the property of the aforementioned Mrs. David Garrick, having been unearthed in the office of a Lincoln's Inn firm of solicitors, where they had been lying for eighty years, were put to auction in July and sold well. The diaries, which contained many items similar to that appearing under the date "September 4, 1751.-A quarrel in the green-room between Old Cibber and Mrs. Clive, by his saying the stage wanted a handsome woman" (not the most tactful remark to make in an actress's presence) fetched 601., and the sale altogether realized 2531. 2s. 6d.

An inkpot used, as a letter from Mr. W. E. Henley attested, by the late Robert Louis Stevenson on numerous occasions, is another literary relic that was in the market recently, and it realized, for the fund on whose behalf it was sold some 251., or about onethird of the sum given three years ago for a silver ornamental taper-stand originally purchased and presented to his mother by Sir Walter Scott with his first fee (51. 58.) as an advocate. The Malacca cane, 4 feet 71⁄2 inches long, having a ferrule 5 inches in length, and a cream-colored earthenware jug, bequeathed by Shakespeare to his sister Joan Hart, realized 1551. early in the year 1900, and proved to be one of the few lots of relics that did not show an enhanced value upon their previous figures. Many years ago the jug sold for 201. and the cane

for 51., but in 1893 the pair realized 1627. 58. A lock of Grace Darling's hair, together with a piece of the "Forfarshire," the nine survivors of whose crew she rescued in 1838, sold for 41. 58. recently; but Lord Beaconsfield's pony chaise, when sold at Hughenden a year last October, only realized the small sum of 29s. A model of a ship cut out of a tree felled by Mr. Gladstone at Hawarden in 1866 is one of the few memorials of the great Home Rule statesman that have come into the miscellaneous division of the relic market of late years, but the price, 58., was far from indicating the prospect of an immediate boom in Gladstonian relics.

Another class of relic that has enjoyed a very 'quiet time recently is the Crimean War trophy; but in view of the fact that in a couple of 'years' time the jubilee of the campaign will be at hand, 'prices can be safely expected to harden, in the which most likely event the individual who purchased a very small portion of the colors of a Russian regiment, taken at Inkerman by the Grenadier Guards, together with a brass eagle, for 31. 108. three years last April-a sum that would probably have been enhanced hrad the sale 'been deferred to the anniversary of the battle on November 5-will, should he care to sell, have every reason to congratulate himself upon his astuteness.

The great run on Napoleonic relics which existed a few years ago is gradually giving place to a "bull" tendency in respect to the effects of Nelson, which may be accounted for, to a certain extent, by the raid on the Nelson relics at Greenwich, which, however, does not affect the relic market in any other manner than to add to the interest that will be evinced at the next great sale of the Admiral's effects that takes place. If the miscreant who stole the nation's relics of

the national hero was led to do so by the prices that were current when several mementoes of the great sailor were put up to auction about two years ago he must by now be very sensible as to the difference that lies between the sentimental and actual values of booty such as he acquired. Two years last March a silver twohandled cup presented to the Admiral by Lady Hamilton inscribed "From Emma, July 2, 1798," sold for 115. 108.; a rapier, the pommel set with a turquoise and brilliant cluster, which was taken from a French officer at the battle of the Nile and courteously presented to Nelson by Admiral Bruys, fetched 501., and a gold ring with an intaglio bust of Nelson engraved "Lord Nelson, ob. 21 October, 1805," 71. 78. Should any of these relics be put up to auction three years hence i.e., in the Nelson and Trafalgar Centenary Year-it will be interesting to note the prices they realize. A corner in Nelson relics, if engineered during the next three years, would, in view of the hundredth anniversary of his death, in all probability, be not unattended by pecuniary success.

Mementoes of Oliver Cromwell are as infrequently sold as New River Shares; it is therefore somewhat remarkable that in the course of half-adozen months two relics of the 'Protector should change owners. Another peculiarity with regard to, these sales is the disproportionate values put upon the respective relics. For instance, an old English "beutel," resembling a military water-bottle, mounted with two silver shields having a medallion portrait of the Lord Protector and the Royal Arms engraved thereon, which also bore the inscription "Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, 1653," sold for 841., or about one-fifth the sum received for a richly embroidered cope formerly the property of Pope Sixtus IV. (1471