self-sacrifice for others. Och, ye spalpeen!" continued
Father Rogan, raising his finger in kindly anger at Lorison.

"What for, I wonder, could she be after making a fool
of hersilf, and shamin' her swate soul with lies, for the

like of you!"
"Sir," said Lorison, trembling, "say what you please

of me. Doubt it as you must, I will yet prove my gratitude
to you, and my devotion to her. But let me speak to her

once now, let me kneel for just one moment at her feet,
and -- "

"Tut, tut!" said the priest. "How many acts of a
love drama do you think an old bookworm like me capable

of witnessing? Besides, what kind of figures do we cut,
spying upon the mysteries of midnight millinery! Go

to meet your wife to-morrow, as she ordered you, and obey
her thereafter, and maybe some time I shall get forgive-

ness for the part I have played in this night's work. Off
wid yez down the shtairs, now! 'Tis late, and an ould

man like me should be takin' his rest."
MADAME BO-PEEP, OF THE RANCHES

"AUNT ELLEN," said Octavia, cheerfully, as she threw
her black kid gloves carefully at the dignified Persian cat

on the window-seat, "I'm a pauper."
"You are so extreme in your statements, Octavia,

dear," said Aunt Ellen, mildly, looking up from her paper.
"If you find yourself temporarily in need of some small

change for bonbons, you will find my purse in the drawer
of the writing desk."

Octavia Beaupree removed her hat and seated herself
on a footstool near her aunt's chair, clasping her hands

about her knees. Her slim and flexible figure, clad in a
modish mourningcostume, accommodated itself easily

and gracefully to the trying position. Her bright and
youthful face, with its pair of sparkling, life-enamoured

eyes, tried to compose itself to the seriousness that the
occasion seemed to demand.

"You good auntie, it isn't a case of bonbons; it is abject,
staring, unpicturesque poverty, with ready-made clothes,

gasolined gloves, and probably one o'clock dinners all
waiting with the traditional wolf at the door. I've just

come from my lawyer, auntie, and, 'Please, ma'am, I
ain't got nothink 't all. Flowers, lady? Buttonhole,

gentleman? Pencils, sir, three for five, to help a poor
widow?' Do I do it nicely, auntie, or, as a bread-winner

accomplishment, were my lessons in elocution entirely
wasted?"

"Do be serious, my dear," said Aunt Ellen, letting her
paper fall to the floor, "long enough to tell me what you

mean. Colonel Beaupree's estate -- "
"Colonel Beaupree's estate," interrupted Octavia,

emphasizing her words with appropriatedramatic ges-
tures, "is of Spanish castellar architecture. Colonel

Beaupree's resources are -- wind. Colonel Beaupree's
stocks are -- water. Colonel Beaupree's income is --

all in. The statement lacks the legal technicalities to
which I have been listening for an hour, but that is what

it means when translated."
"Octavia!" Aunt Ellen was now visibly possessed by

consternation. "I can hardly believe it. And it was the
impression that he was worth a million. And the De

Peysters themselves introduced him!"
Octavia rippled out a laugh, and then became properly

grave.
"De mortuis nil, auntie -- not even the rest of it. The

dear old colonel -- what a gold brick he was, after all!
I paid for my bargain fairly -- I'm all here, am I not?

-- items: eyes, fingers, toes, youth, old family, unques-
tionable position in society as called for in the contract

no wild-cat stock here." Octavia picked up the
morning paper from the floor. "But I'm not going to

'squeal' -- isn't that what they call it when you rail at
Fortune because you've, lost the game?" She turned

the pages of the paper calmly. "'Stock market' -- no
use for that. 'Society's doings' -- that's done. Here is

my page -- the wish column. A Van Dresser could not
be said to 'want' for anything, of course. 'Chamber-

maids, cooks, canvassers, stenographers-"
"Dear," said Aunt Ellen, with a little tremor in her

voice, "please do not talk in that way. Even if your
affairs are in so unfortunate a condition, there is my three

thousand -- "
Octavia sprang up lithely, and deposited a smart kiss

on the delicate cheek of the prim little elderly maid.
"Blessed auntie, your three thousand is just sufficient

to insure your Hyson to be free from willow leaves and
keep the Persian in sterilized cream. I know I'd be

welcome, but I prefer to strike bottom like Beelzebub
rather than hang around like the Peri listening to the

music from the side entrance. I'm going to earn my own
living. There's nothing else to do. I'm a -- Oh, oh, oh!

-- I had forgotten. There's one thing saved from the
wreck. It's a corral -- no, a ranch in -- let me see --

Texas: an asset, dear old Mr. Bannister called it. How
pleased he was to show me something he could describe

as unencumbered! I've a description of it among those
stupid papers he made me bring away with me from his

office. I'll try to find it."
Octavia found her shopping-bag, and drew from it a

long envelope filled with typewritten documents.
"A ranch in Texas," sighed Aunt Ellen. "It sounds

to me more like a liability than an asset. Those are the
places where the centipedes are found, and cowboys,

and fandangos."
"'The Rancho de las Sombras,'" read Octavia from

a sheet of violentlypurple typewriting "'is situated one
hundred and ten miles southeast of San Antonio, and

thirty-eight miles from its nearest railroad station, Nopal,
on the I. and G. N. Ranch, consists of 7,680 acres of well-

watered land, with title conferred by State patents, and
twenty-two sections, or 14,080 acres, partly under yearly

running lease and partly bought under State's twenty-
year-purchase act. Eight thousand graded merino sheep,

with the necessary equipment of horses, vehicles and
general ranch paraphernalia. Ranch-house built of

brick, with six rooms comfortably furnished according to
the requirements of the climate. All within a strong

barbed-wire fence.
"'The present ranch manager seems to be competent

and reliable, and is rapidly placing upon a paying basis
a business that, in other hands, had been allowed to suffer

from neglect and misconduct.
"'This property was secured by Colonel Beaupree in a

deal with a Western irrigationsyndicate, and the title
to it seems to be perfect. With careful management and

the natural increase of land values, it ought to be made
the foundation for a comfortable fortune for its owner.'"

When Octavia ceased reading, Aunt Ellen uttered
something as near a sniff as her breeding permitted.

"The prospectus," she said, with uncompromising
metropolitan suspicion, "doesn't mention the centipedes,

or the Indians. And you never did like mutton, Octavia.
I don't see what advantage you can derive from this --

desert."