He put his books on the shelf, and re-shelves, and smelt round the burner-I quested me to put mine on the same shelf had one foe the less. I then began to think in the proper order. The numbers on the seriously as to the chances of the air lastbacks were almost illegible, and I was ing me till released in the morning.. In some time, even in the strong gas-light, the morning? this was-oh God! Saturtrying to read them.

"Can I help you, M. Wardes?'

'No, thank you, I've just done.'

I put up the last book, and turned to go The heavy door swung rapidly on its hinges I heard the spring katch, and the key turn, and I was in black darkness.

M. Vernay! M. Vernay! The door is

shut.'

'I know it,' said his voice, muffled by its thickness; 'you have access to all my books now."

day! Saturday! Sunday, Monday-two nights and a whole day! There was no hope! I might have lived till the morn-. done, and my absence would be easily acing, but on Sunday there was no business counted for by that horrible mistake in my books.

Two nights and a day-how many hours? To Sunday night at five, twentyfour. To Monday night at ten, seventeen. Forty-one long hours! Forty-one hours! There was not air enough to last me ten! Ifelt round the door; it was all but air

I heard the heavy clash of the door of proof. If I could make them hear! It the outer safe, and then silence, as deep as was impossible; the house was the other death, was round me. I did not swoon or side of a noisy courtyard-I must die! faint. I felt I was the victim of a most And Victorine! No, no-ten thousand horrible trick; it was nothing more-I times no! I must live-I will live. should be released in the morning, and I I bethought me of my old store of knowwould make him repent it. I heard, pre-ledge. How long could I live without sently, a hissing sound-it continued; pre- fresh air? How many hours had I in sently I smelt gas. I should never see the which to reach it? I paced the length morning. I should be stifled with the gas and breadth of the room— -I measured its -the plan was clear before me now. An height, and found that by breathing only accident-no one knew I helped him with twenty times a minute I might live for the books he did not know I was in the thirteen hours; that would be till six safe, and he shut the door. It was purely o'clock on Sunday morning; and after that one of those accidents that will happen.. I must have air-air was life. I must Still the gas hissed, like a serpent be- bore through the walls; the lock was imfore its fatal spring. I must stop that. I pregnable. The walls of brick would felt round the walls for the burner, and yield to tools. Tools! mockery! I had soon found it. There was no tap! I re-but a penknife-a toy-and I had thirteen membered now, the tap was in the outer hours to get through a wall at least two safe, and the gas was lighted in the inner feet thick. It was a work of years, not one by a long stick between the bars of hours. Tools! A long pointed bar and a the gate. My fingers stopped it in a mohammer. I remembered to have seen a ment, but I could not keep my finger there mason boring through a wall at my faalways. I tried, and the arm became so ther's with such tools. My penknife was tired of the contracted position above my two inches long. The gas-burner! I tried head, that I could not keep my finger over it; it was soft brass; my knife cut it it to save my life. I thought of some other readily. It might work through beside plan. To light it-alas! I did not smoke, the gas-pipe. The man surely bored a I had no means to do it; and if I had it larger hole than the pipe would fill. I would only have consumed the air, every felt the pipe where it went round the wall, inch of which was precious as life itself. and then pricked the wall with my knife; At last I thought of something that would the cement with which the hole had been do; I tore some corners off the leaves of a filled round the pipe was harder than the book, chewed them into a pulp, and put it hole itself. over the holes in the tube, pressing it in In tracing my way round the room my hard-the hissing ceased. I climbed the hand touched the gate. I was saved! I

I had now a hammer-awkward, it is true; still, a tool that would give a blow with a certain force.

never felt such a sensation as when my nately-directed blow, and I had the joy of hand touched that gate. It was rapture! hearing it ring on the pavement of the bliss! had despaired-I was now full of room. hope. I passed my hand carefully over the gate; I felt one of the bars; they were of round iron, about three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and after running through the framework of the gåte, were pointed at the end. But to get them out of that framework! I pulled one. It yielded a little, and then mocked at my

efforts. I must have a hammer. I felt

carefully round the walls again. The shelves were all let into the walls-there was nothing! I felt again, and close to the gate the shelf had been cut away to allow the gate toʻroll back, and the shelves were supported on brackets, If those brackets were wrought-iron I was helpless -cast-iron might save me yet. I felt them carefully and compared them; if they were wrought, they would be unlike in some points—if cast, alike in all. I knew now what the touch of the blind must be, so full of instruction to the mind.

I struck again and again at the bars of the gate; they yielded as the other had done, and then were fast. I sank down exhausted with my useless efforts. Why did they not yield? I could give no more

force to the blow-to throw the chest at

them would be useless; the size would spread the blow over two or three of the bars, and the force would be lost, I must and thus wrench out the half I needed. cut through one of the bars in the middle, How had I seen men cut through iron? With files-I could not hope for these. I remembered to have heard of prisoners who cut through iron bars with a watch spring-by what horrible fatality was my watch at that moment in the case on my dressing table. A watch-spring--a thin piece of steel. Would iron do?" It might They were cast-iron-not a trace of dif- In almost less time than it takes to tell, I ference could be found. One more sign had broken up one of the sheet-iron deed and I was certain; if cast, they would be boxes, and by carefully bending a piece of cast in a mould, and there would be a it backwards and forwards on the sharp slight roughness in the casting where the edge of the chest I had used as a missile, halves of the mould had been joined. II obtained a strip about the length of my felt again. There was the roughness-the hand, and two fingers broad, and with this same in both. And now to break them I commenced sawing one of the bars. off. A blow, a heavy blow, alone could do Half an hour's hard work produced no imit. I remembered to have noticed, when pression on the bar, and had turned up the putting away the books, a small chest of edge of the soft sheet-iron on both sides. apparently solid iron on one of the shelves. I sought for it and found it; it was heavy nearly the fourth of a hundred weight, Ihundred saws to cut through that one bar. thought. I poised it carefully, and felt I had strength enough to throw it with an aim. I cleared away the books from the slate shelf which rested on one of these brackets, and then measuring carefully the distance, threw the chest on to it. It fell short, and crashed on the floor.

If it had been a question of saws, I could have turned ten deed boxes into a

Alas! it was no such thing; the saw would not cut; and then sprung up before me the vision of a large yard with blocks of stone, and the motion to and fro of the suspended saw of the stone sawyer, and, his little trickling water barrel and heap of sand. Once more I went to work. I broke off a corner of one of the stone shelves (the lower ones were of stone, the upper of slate), pounded it fine with my hammer, and then wetting the edge of the saw with saliva, I strewed the pounded stone upon it. I felt the saw become steadier and steadier, and at last I could

Once more I tried, and this time successfully. The missile smashed the shelf into pieces. I kicked and beat away the smaller fragments till the bracket stood out from the wall by itself. And now came the test of my skill. If I threw once at the bracket in that black darkness, I threw twenty times or more; at last, one fortu- feel with my nail a little nick in the bar.

guide.

I worked for nearly three hours at this one risk it. That hollow sound was so cheery, .bar, changing my saw when it was worn that I would believe that it must be a true hollow for another and another, till I had worn out six of them. I was nearly through another half hour, and I should be quite through; yet it might break off now with a blow-it might—and it might leave a ragged end to my chisel that would destroy half the force of my blows when I came to bore through the wall; I would not strike, but kept on patiently, and at last the saw went through. I seized the end, and in a few minutes I held in my hand the instrument of my deliverance. The air of the room had by this time be-air rush in. How can words convey the come close and stifling, and it was only by stooping that I could breathe freely.

I had still, as far as I could judge, some five hours left-in those I must accomplish my deliverance, or die.

I now commenced sounding with my hammer for the least solid part of the wall.

Blow after blow, and the hole grew deep, and my progress less as my control when one sudden, sharp blow, drove the over the point of the instrument lessened, chisel into the wall the length of my arm. The place was hollow. I had now but to drive it through the crest of cement on the outer wall, and I should live. I drove it cautiously and carefully, and at last heard the echo of the pieces falling on the other side; and drawing out the chisel, felt the

sensation I experienced as I drew in the God-given breath of life. I could now defy Death; there was a fountain at which I might drink and live.

For hours I sat close to the hole and

breathed, and then fell asleep. I know not how long I slept, but I awoke sore and tired, and with a horrible hunger and In striking it on a part nearly opposite thirst on me. I could not have many more the shelves cut out for the gate, I thought hours to stay, so I hoped on, and tightened I heard it sound hollow. I struck again my belt to ease the gnawing pain at my and again without success; it all seemed stomach. And now began the horrors of alike. Once more I determined to strike solitude; while I had employment for the over the whole space I had previously mind, I felt no pain of any kind; now I. . struck; this I did, and found the spot was going mad with anxiety and fear. I about the size of a penny piece from must find some employment. And what? which the sound came. I then carefully in this utter darkness. But if darkness, felt the wall in the neighborhood, and why not light? Yes, I would have light. found a rough indented line ran from this For this I must enlarge the hole, and went place round the angle of the wall, and on to work again with blistered hands, and the wall in the same line were three sinall in two hours had enlarged it to twice its four times as much air flowing in.. original diameter, and had consequently

holes in a circle. I decided at once that

this was the place of some' burner fixed, and afterwards removed; the rough line was the mark left by the pipe, and the My next step was to grate from the hollow place must be the hole through edges of a book a paper powder for tinwhich the old pipe entered the room. Ider, and spreading this on the ground in a drove the chisel in the place, and found it heap, I struck with the point of my hamhard-very hard, but still hollow. My mer the stone shelf above it. The sparks life now hung upon the choice of a right flew about at the contact, but it was at place; if this hole was filled up with the least an hour before one lodged in the hard cement, and the difference of sound heap and set it mouldering. I watched arose merely from difference in density, anxiously as the little red ring grew larger then I had better try the wall over for a and brighter in the heap, and then apply. brick softer than the rest; but if it was not ing a piece of thin paper rolled to a fine full-if those who should have filled it point to the centre of the ring. I gently had put but a few inches of cement at blew the redness into flame-yes, flame! each end of the hole-then in another hour Real flame, that blinded me by its brightI was as safe as if I were free. I would ness, that seemed to pierce my brain with

a sword, so long and deep had been the door opening, and then I heard the voice darkness. I knew so well-that of M. Vernay. 'You need not stay; I can bring up all I

I took my paper stop from off the gas, and heard the serpent hiss once more-need. Give me a lucifer.'"

gas, and then sat looking at it as Bartimeus might have done in the joy of his new found sight.

this time without fear. I lit the issuing He was speaking to the porter. I heard the muffled-sounding footsteps; I heard the key turn in the lock; and then, as the door opened, 1 stood face to face with my. foe, and where he expected to find darkness and death, he found light and life. He saw me-saw, in my hand, his book that contained the secrets of a lifetime, with the lock forced-saw his schemes It was

I had done-I had light and air; but still I must have employment, or I should

rave.

Employment. The thought came to me of that unfortunate sentence that had caused me to run this risk: 'If I had ac-defeated, and nimself an outcast. cess to his books I would prove that fraud was possible.'

too much for his mind. He shrieked a cry of mingled horror and fear, and fell forThere they were-every one; not one ward in the doorway as if he were dead. missing. Could I prove it? Could-I I went up stairs to the office, said to the must-my good name depended on prov-porter, M. Vernay is below in the strong ing it. If he were true, I was false. Irrom; go down and see to him,' and went set to work, and with my pencil, which I over to the house. happily had with me, I went through account after account from beginning to end, and well was I rewarded; for I learnt that my uncle, supposed to be rich, had been systematically robbed for years by this scoundrel, and was now almost ruined; and that his daughter's portion, invested in English securities, had been sold out, and the interest paid by M. Vernay himself, so that father and daughter were at the mercy of this man."

I suffered a long illness, during the whole of which Victorine was my nurse, and thanks to that, and a good constitution, I recovered, and got up such a clear case against M. Vernay, that the whole of the property I had rescued was restored to my uncle.

The mistake of the thousand francs was easily explained by the application of a magnifying glass to the figures. He had cleverly altered the one to a nought, and bribed Francois to put the missing note into my room.

To M. Vernay this was a matter of indifference, for his mind never recovered the shock, and he spent the short remainder of his life in a criminal lunatic asyThese facts I learned from a small lum. locked book that was in a box marked with M. Vernay's name. So confident had the servant been of his master's trust in him, that he had left in that master's safe the whole of the securities of his nefarious investments, and there they were, with a Need I add that I am now in possession systematic account of them in this locked book: so that, while the master, who was of my uncle's business, and blessed by my supposed to be worth his hundreds of Victorine's constant presence; and furthousands, was almost a bankrupt, his clerk was a man of immense wealth.

When I broke the lock of that book, and read down its columns, I felt a joy and a pleasure that would have enabled me again to endure what I had suffered, if it would have led to the same result.

I made notes of the whole affair, and took the securities into my possession, and then calmly waited long, long hours; I could not tell how long, for I was waked up from a kind of stupor by the sound of a

ther, that my present strong-room can be opened from the inside with perfect ease. A. STEWART HARRISON.

THE LADDER OF LOVE.

ADMIRATION.

Fearless of frowns or veto from Mamma.
The softening nymph refers him to Papa."

ACCEPTATION.

While graceful Chloe leads the gay quad-Joy in his look, and rapture on his tongue.

rille.

What new sensations Strephon's bosom • fill;

An introduction gained, the youth ad

vances,

And hopes she's disengaged the two next dances.

FLIRTATION,

On neat red tape his various parchments

strung,

See Strephon bears the mystic circlet high, Which bids hope's tide flow strong, and terrors fly.

SOLEMNIZATION.

Arrived at church upon unlucky day,

His suit obtained, they tread the mazy Poor Chloe falters out the word "obey;"

round;

At length, fatigued, a seat's convenient found;

Strephon assiduous plies the glittering fan, And proves himself "a very nice young man.".

APPROBATION.

With fav'ring smiles the fair one heard his prattle,

Thus of Love's ladder gained the topmost

place,

The downward course the sorrowing Muse

must trace.

POSSESSION.

The Honeymoon and raptures fled together,

Behold a rural walk in dirty weather; The stile is slippery, but in vain the dame Sips lemonade, and vows "he's quite a Looks for that aid that once uncalled for

Next morn he calls-the custom's very Blue burn the candles, and the nymph