selves apparent through the house. The poor man appeared more pinched and withered and yellow than ever as he rose up and shook himself feebly.

by no means profound in her reasoning on ordinary occasions, she developed now a skill and acuteness in conjoining circumstances, with a boldness in uttering convictions which did much towards fostering and strengthening public opinion in favor of the absent ones, besides stirring up sus

knows neither bounds nor reason,-against Miss Wormley, whose position was by no means an enviable one, even before the afternoon, when the dispatch from Professor Dyce arrived, falling like a bomb in their midst. "I shall return to La Fayette by the evening train, with Miss Earle, who is now my wife," it read. There was nothing

"Prayers!" exclaimed Miss Wormley in her sharp voice. "You had better go into the school-room and inform the girls that their precious teachers have ab-picion and girlish outspoken scorn,-which sconded and there will be no lessons or prayers either till you have laid the matter before the authorities. Even if they should dare attempt to return now-" "Miss-Miss Wormley," interrupted the Professor, "there is, so far as I can see, no occasion to create anarchy or disorder. I shall of course put the whole matter into the hands of the trustees; but in the meantime, you will please say nothing to any one upon the subject:" and with an unusual straightening of the thin figure, causing a surprising number of wrinkles never seen before in the back of the rusty black coat, the little man walked stiffly out of the room towards the study-hall.

more.

To say that Professor Paine,-whose messenger had returned before now from his useless quest,-rejoiced, would too feebly express it. If anything so dried and stiffened into shape as his countenance could be said to fairly shine and sparkle, this was true of it now. He walked directly into the school-room, stepped upon the platform before Miss Hersey who was trying to enforce the semblance of a study-hour, with the assurance of utter self-forgetfulness, and read the message aloud, ending it with a kind of glorified glare at the girls, conceived as a radiant smile. And they appreciated the act, bless their dear warm hearts, North and South! For the first time they understood each other. A great shout went up from the whole school. They sprang from their seats and crowded around the little man, who by this time had retired into his shell again, frightened at himself and them.

Regret that he had not dispatched some one at once in search of the missing ones grew upon him every moment, especially when the curiosity and excitement among the girls became manifest. The very fact that they had differed so widely upon the questions of the day, and that a coldness had in consequence sprung up between them, made the just little man, who was left in this dilemma to manage affairs, fearful lest he had not done his duty. And at last, when the school had been organized for the day with an attempt to make a show of going on as usual, he slipped out of the house and engaged a man to mount a horse and scour the country in the neigh-But they would not be repulsed, and with borhood of the picnic ground. But of this he said nothing to any one.

Clary's distress can be imagined perhaps; it was beyond the power of description. She dissolved to tears before the omnibuses were gained, and wept from that time forward in a feeble, heart-broken way with occasional respites of wrath, odd little unexpected bursts of anger which dried her tears for a time, and perhaps saved her from entire liquefaction. No attempt at discipline could affect her conduct in the least. She wandered about, or made a lay figure in the school-room, neither studying nor attending the recitations of her classes, with ability to do nothing but mop her eyes with delicate little lace-edged handkerchiefs-for grief, even, with Clary, must have its attendant magnificence. Although

a little nervous laugh, and a trembling quaver in his weak voice, he could only assure them, over and over again, that he really knew nothing but what he had learned from the dispatch. Miss Wormley passing through the school-room heard the message, felt the shout of joy like a knife at her heart, and crept away to her own room to hide her mortification and rage as best she could. She had failed. There remained nothing for her but to accept the fact, and try to avert whatever consequen ces would be likely to fall upon her head. At least they could prove nothing against her. Even Professor Dyce, himself, must acknowledge that her duty was to return to town with the girls in her charge. If no one was sent after them,-for she knew nothing of Professor Paine's attempt,—it

WAN LEE, THE PAGAN.

BY BRET HARTE.

his teeth white and clean. He wore a dark blue silk blouse; and in the streets on cold days, a short jacket of astrakhan fur. He wore also a pair of drawers of blue brocade gathered tightly over his calves and ankles, offering a general sort of suggestion that he had forgotten his trousers that morning, but, that so gentlemanly were his manners, his friends had forborne to mention the fact to him. His manner was urbane, although quite serious. He spoke French and English fluently. In brief, I doubt if you could have found the equal of this Pagan shop-keeper among the Christian traders of San Francisco.

There were a few others present: a Judge of the Federal Court, an editor, a high government official, and a prominent merchant. After we had drunk our tea, and tasted a few sweetmeats from a mysterious jar, that looked as if it might contain a preserved mouse among its other nondescript treasures, Hop Sing arose and, gravely beckoning us to follow him, began to descend to the basement. When we got there, we were amazed at finding it brilliantly lighted, and that a number of chairs were arranged in a half-circle on the asphalt pavement. When he had courteously seated us he said:

"I have invited you to witness a performance which I can at least promise you no other foreigners but yourselves have ever seen. Wang, the court juggler, arrived here yesterday morning. He has never given a performance outside of the palace before. I have asked him to entertain my friends this evening. He requires no theater, stage accessories, or any confederate-nothing more than you see here. Will you be pleased to examine the ground yourselves, gentlemen.'

Of course we examined the premises. It was the ordinary basement or cellar of the San Francisco store-house, cemented to keep out the damp. We poked our sticks into the pavement and rapped on the walls to satisfy our polite host, but for no other purpose. We were quite content to be the victims of any clever deception. For myself, I knew I was ready to be deluded to any extent, and if I had been offered an explanation of what followed, I should have probably declined it.

Although I am satisfied that Wang's general performance was the first of that kind ever given on American soil, it has probably since become so familiar to many of my readers that I shall not bore

them with it here. He began by setting to flight, with the aid of his fan, the usual number of butterflies made before our eyes of little bits of tissue paper, and kept them in the air during the remainder of the performance. I have a vivid recollection of the Judge trying to catch one that had lit on his knee, and of its evading him with the pertinacity of a living insect. And even at this time Wang, still plying his fan, was taking chickens out of hats, making oranges disappear, pulling endless yards of silk from his sleeve, apparently filling the whole area of the basement with goods that appeared mysteriously from the ground, from his own sleeves, from nowhere! He swallowed knives to the ruin of his digestion for years to come, he dislocated every limb of his body, he reclined in the air, apparently upon nothing. But his crowning performance, which I have never yet seen repeated, was the most weird, mysterious and astounding. It is my apology for this long introduction,

my sole excuse for writing this arti

cle, the genesis of this veracious history.

He cleared the ground of its encumbering articles for a space of about fifteen feet square, and then invited us all to walk forward and again examine it. We did so gravely; there was nothing but the cemented pavement below to be seen or felt. He then asked for the loan of a handkerchief, and, as I chanced to be nearest him, I offered mine. He took it, and spread it open upon the floor. Over this he spread a large square of silk, and over this again a large shawl nearly covering the space he had cleared. He then took a position at one of the points of this rectangle, and began a monotonous chant, rocking his body to and fro in time with the somewhat lugubrious air.

We sat still and waited. Above the chant we could hear the striking of the city clocks, and the occasional rattle of a cart in the street overhead. The absolute watchfulness and expectation, the dim mysterious half-light of the cellar falling in a grewsome way upon the misshapen bulk of a Chinese deity in the background, a faint smell of opium smoke mingling with spice, and the dreadful uncertainty of what we were really waiting for, sent an uncomfortable thrill down our backs, and made us look at each other with a forced and unnatural smile. This feeling was heightened when Hop Sing slowly rose, and,