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and we find them in possession of absolutely the largest fishing industry in the world.

The greatest contrast in the Exhibition is that between the fisheries of the youngest nation in the world, at which we have just been looking, and those of the most ancient. In the exhibits of the United States every appliance is characterised, almost without regard to cost, by the effort to adapt it to its purpose as completely as thought and materials now available allow. In China the ruling idea is to do everything as cheaply as possible, and as much as possible in the way that was found to be the cheapest some thousands of years ago, and all the while to have very scant consideration for the human agent. The fishing boat is generally the only home of the fisherman and of his family; they live on as little as life can be supported on; all the apparatus is as cheap and simple as is compatible with taking enough fish to support the family.

There is nothing in the twenty-three acres the Exhibition covers, or in the six hundred pages of its catalogue, more suggestive than this contrast between the exhibits of China and those of the United States. They represent two very opposite views of human life, and two very opposite methods of dealing with nature and of extorting from her the means of subsistence. Will the people who have grown to 300,000,000 already -an expansion no other people have ever reached, an homogeneous population equal to the aggregate of all the nations of Europe-who are able and ready to work well for less than any other people, who can live where any other people would starve, who can labour in every climate, and are content with any form of government, will they at last burst the invisible bonds which have hitherto kept them within their own boundaries, and which there now appears in them some disposition to burst, and overflow other parts of the world, and displace existing populations by getting

possession of the means of living, through their ability to work harder and to live upon less? Or, to look at the question from the other side, will the most progressive people in the world, who take it for granted that what those who have gone before them did is no more than the starting-point from which they themselves are to advance; who, without shrinking from manual labour, labour with the brain as no other people ever did, in order not merely to live but to live well; who regard the whole world as the field for their activity; and who look upon the ways in which the forces of nature may be subdued to human purposes and the materials of nature turned to the best account, as so many problems which they are called upon to solve, will they be hemmed in, beaten, and displaced by the Chinaman?

It has been said if a Chinese Napoleon were to arise he would cut out very ugly work for the rest of the world. That apprehension, however, I think we may summarily dismiss, because the future can only grow out of the past, and China during its thousands of years of existence, and out of its hundreds of millions of people, has produced no Napoleon. The contrast just dwelt upon seems to meet satisfactorily the apprehensions on this subject with which some minds are at present troubled. Who can doubt that fifty years hence the Chinaman with the same appliances as he sets before us in this Exhibition, will be capturing about the same amount of fish he captures at this day, and which is probably the amount his ancestors captured in the same fashion two or three thousand years ago? This interesting and instructive Exhibition shows, among many other things, that the history and present condition of the fisheries of all people, together with the amounts of enterprise and hardihood displayed severally by their fishermen, constitutes a very fair measure of the character of the people themselves.

F. BARHAM ZINCKE.

233

CHAPTER XLI.

FORTUNE'S FOOL.

IN WHICH BRYAN INDULGES TO THE FULL HIS INIMITABLE VEIN OF HUMOUR; AND PROPOSES A SCHEME FOR THE BENEFIT OF LADY MAYFAIR'S HEART, WHICH HAS THE EFFECT OF UPSETTING HER NERVES.

Two days previous to the meeting of Bryan and Maurice at the club, Bryan, clad in morning attire of the most unexceptionable fashion and quality, had made a call on Lady Mayfair. His acquaintance with this lady had begun a good many years ago, and had at one period been more intimate than her nearest friends probably suspected. He now saw much less of her than formerly; yet the easy terms on which he stood with her were apparent in the fact that he was always admitted to her presence without delay or question, and treated with an absence of formality that most men would have envied. The present occasion proved no exception to the rule; the footman who opened the door bowed him up stairs at once, without previously "inquiring whether her ladyship was at home," and he was ushered immediately into the presence of the Queen of London Society.

Bryan appeared to be in a most genial and engaging frame of mind. "How charming you look to-day, Alexandra," he exclaimed, throwing himself into a chair, as soon as they were alone together.

"I owe you an immense debt, as embodying for me my ideal of what a lady of rank and fashion ought to be. Not to speak of other debts, too numerous to mention, and to which you yourself, with a delicacy too rare in this vain-glorious world, have forborne ever to allude. Really, you are

an almost perfect woman; and I despair of ever repaying you a tithe of your favours; especially as I am now about to increase the balance against me."

Lady Mayfair looked at him with an expression on her beautiful face which her friends, who were accustomed to see her all smiles and graciousness, would have been surprised to behold there. It told of weariness, hopelessness, and aversion controlled by fear. It made her look old, dimmed the brightness of her eyes, and traced lines round the corners of her mouth, and across her brow. Her hands moved nervelessly in her lap, as she asked in a voice without

resonance

"What is it now, Bryan?"

rest.

"What is it now?" repeated he, comically mimicking her tone. "My dear soul, what is the matter with you? Now that I look at you more closely, I believe your nerves are out of order. I see how it is; your devotion to the interests of others has overstrained your sensitive organisation. You need change of scene, and A trip to the Continent would be just the thing for you; and by the by curiously enough-that is precisely what I came to suggest to you! How fortunately things turn out! A week or so in Paris will be capital for both of us, for you, because you need it, and for me because I need you!" While saying this, Bryan smilingly drew off his gloves, and deposited them in his immaculate silk hat, which he placed upon an inlaid table. He then folded his arms, and contemplated Lady Mayfair benignantly.

"I don't understand what you mean; but I cannot leave London at present," she said, after some pause.

"If you require money, of course I will do what I can-"

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"Now, Alexandra, this is unkind! interrupted Bryan, with a humorously pathetic air. "You will never believe in my reform. Money, forsooth! Did I not travel to the ends of the earth for the express purpose of making a fortune for myself directly from the bosom of nature, without injury or loss to any other human being? Did I not attain my pious object? and have I ever borrowed a fi'pun' note of you since? No, no! Money is beneath me—so long at all events as I have my pockets full of it; and what I want of you, my dear creature, is not pecuniary supplies, but moral support. Yes, moral support!" And here Bryan shook his great shoulders, and chuckled.

Lady Mayfair shuddered slightly, as her eyes wandered over her hilarious visitor, and her lips moved silently. "I suppose you will explain," she said at length.

"You are so frigid and discouraging," rejoined Bryan ruefully. "You know how timid I am in the presence of ladies, and you take advantage of it. Ah, Alexandra, why cannot you be to me as you once were? There was a time eh, wasn't there? or have you forgotten it? Heartless woman! I believe you have. Would I could rival your impassiveness! But I never can; my nature is as susceptible and simple as a child's, and yet, though wax to receive, 'tis marble to retain. Indeed, were my natural memory to fail me, I have always, you know, this memoria technica to fall back upon." So saying, he drew from his pocket a bundle of letters and other documents tied up with a blue ribbon; drew his thumb across the edge of them, as one ruffles a pack of cards, and returned them to their place. "Blessed relics!" he exclaimed, folding his hands over his breast with а romantic air; "worlds should not buy you of me; and yet she who penned you would deny her own handwriting now-if she could!"

"Why will you

remind me how

much I hate you?" demanded Lady Mayfair, her slender hands tightening on the arms of her chair. "I should like to forget that !"

"How naturally you say that! just as if you meant it!" remarked Bryan, with undiminished good-humour. "What mysteries and enigmas you women are -dear delightful riddles! And, bless my stars! how you must enjoy deluding and tyrannising over us poor artless men! Seriously, my lovely Alexandra, just consider your own position for a moment. Here you are, practically at the head of the wealthiest and proudest society in the world. You are reverenced, admired, worshipped. Dukes sue for your fair hand; to be seen in your drawingroom is a brevet of nobility; you set the fashion in bonnets and pelisses; your reputation is spotless; your career is splendid. And with all, and in spite of all, how entirely you are a woman! No one would believe how much so-who didn't know. Why, fancy what a sensation it would create if I, after leaving you, were to drive down to the club, and say to any chance knot of fellows smoking their cigars in the coffee-room, Ah! you think you know Lady Mayfair, do you? Do you know, then, that a certain number of years ago-she being newly a widow, and susceptible-she met a man, a plain, rough man, very much such a fellow as I am (or was), for instance, and that she fell in love with him? Would you believe that when, in an ecstasy of bewilderment and delight, this man who so resembled myself professed a return of her passion, she lavished upon him the whole wealth of her maiden-I mean, widowed-affections; that she wrote him quantities of passionate love letters, which he always carries in his pocket; that she consented to contract a secret marriage with him, and that, on a certain day, a ceremony actually took place, which

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"Oh! why does God let such a demon live!" cried Lady Mayfair in

a low voice, clasping her hands in her lap.

"You interrupt my eloquence!" said Bryan reproachfully. "I was going on, of course, to explain that the ceremony in question subsequently turned out null and void, owing to the tender consideration of her lover, who, fearing she might repent the rash step she was taking, had the generosity (although he was so like myself) to employ an amateur priest to tie an imitation marriage knot. And yet this devoted woman, whose reputation is without a flaw, never failed (though separated from her imitation husband) to supply him from her abundance with all such substantial necessaries as he from time to time requiredpaid him large annuities, in fact, only not to say that he had ever pretended to marry her at all; and would do so this very day, if requested, though (alas for human fickleness!) she is now in love with another man, and he with another woman-do you know all this? (I would say to the knot of fellows round the club fire,) and if you don't, do you pretend to say you know Lady Mayfair? Then, taking from my pocket-

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I cannot feel any more torture," interposed her ladyship quietly. "You may as well tell me now what brings you here, and then leave me."

66

"If I didn't know what an arch, jocose creature you are," said Bryan, you would hurt my feelings-upon my word you would! But there! we understand each other. As to what brought me here, it is, as I intimated, a matter for our mutual advantage. To begin with, we are both in love; and we have hopes-or at least expectations of our love being returned."

"You may assume what you please," said her ladyship, striving to speak indifferently, "so far as I am concerned."

"You are in love with Jack-I beg his pardon with Lord Castlemereof course; that is just what I was going to say. And I, for my part, am in love (pace my hopeless passion

for you) with Madeleine Vivian. Now, it so happens, as you are doubtless aware, that these two young people have certain common interests; or to speak more accurately, they have an interest in common. A large fortune is, or was, in dispute between them; and the gentleman got it. This gentleman happens to be, like myself, one of those simple-hearted, chivalrous creatures whose tendency it is to give way to all manner of Quixotic and magnanimous impulses; and when, therefore, he realises the fact that the other party in the suit is left approximately penniless, and is also young and handsome, what does he do by way of compensating her for the discourtesy of the law in deciding against her?-he incontinently goes and makes her the offer of his hand and possessions; she accepts him; they are married; poetical justice is done, and you and I are left in the lurch to console each other as best we may!"

66

You-you are telling me a falsehood!" said Lady Mayfair, her cheeks flaming, and then becoming deadly pale.

66

Bryan leaned back in his chair and chuckled. 'By Jove! you are worse hit even than I thought," he said: "what a wonderful thing a woman's heart is! what recuperative power, eh? No, no, reassure yourself, my dear; I was only telling you, in a lively and dramatic style, what would shortly occur, if you and I don't put our heads together to prevent it. I needn't point out to you, I suppose, that you would make Jack a much better wife than Madeleine would; and on the other hand, that it better accords with my experience than with his unsophisticatedness to manage the caprices of so capricious and wilful a young lady as Miss Madeleine. I propose, therefore, that we should do what in us lies to prevent their fatal meeting ; and to that end, that you should chaperone Madeleine on a trip to Paris."

"Is that all?" demanded Lady Mayfair, seeing that he paused.

"What more? And now you see with what undeserved severity you have been treating me."

"There must be more. You would not have subjected me to all that devilish torture, only to require of me such a thing as this. You are keeping back something, and it must be something very wicked-even for you. You may as well tell me what it is. Oh, Bryan Sinclair, you need not fear to injure yourself in my estimation! It would take a very black crime not to look as white as a virtue compared with what I know your heart to be!"

The

Bryan clapped his hands. "Brava! Alexandra the Great; that was a touch of your old vivacity. Love is renewing your youth. Well, one good turn deserves another. The fact is, my charming comrade, I must get Madeleine away from London. propinquity of her friends and relatives is injurious to her, and hostile to my interests. I desire to remove her from these harmful influences, and to place her where she can enjoy the undisturbed advantage of my companionship, and be inaccessible to, and concealed from, everybody else. But the young lady is wilful, as I said, and capricious; she will, I fear, object to take the simple course of accepting my sole escort; she will want some third person to set her conventional scruples at rest; and who, my dear Alexandra, is so fitted to win her confidence as you? With your support, she would set out for Tartarus at an hour's notice, and be convinced that it was a very aristocratic and fashionable region."

"Do you say she loves you ?" asked Lady Mayfair, quietly as before, but

with an intonation much as if she had inquired whether the girl were to die on the rack. The evident unconsciousness with which she delivered the thrust caused it to penetrate Bryan's skin more sharply than the most violent deliberate blow would have done. His face hardened, and his manner changed.

"She loves me enough for my purposes," said he.

"Is it your purpose to marry her?” "That is no concern of yours. You had better be satisfied with what I choose to tell you, Alexandra. She goes to Paris to make her debut on the stage, and I take a friendly interest in her success. You will be ready to give her board and lodging in the meantime. That's all you need to know."

"You mean to ruin her," said Lady Mayfair, while her eyes began to darken, "and you intend to make me your stalking-horse. You mean to use my house, and the trust she places in me, as one woman in another, toAh, this is worthy of you; this is the most hideous of all! If I were the most shameless and degraded of womankind, I think an insult like this ought to go far towards expiating my sin. You dare to suggest this to me, Bryan Sinclair, and you sit there and expect me to answer you! Get out of my sight, you loathsome creature or shall I call my scullions to kick you out of my door?"

Bryan rose to his feet, with a terrible smile on his face, and stepping up to Lady Mayfair, who had also risen, he laid his grasp on her arm. They stood thus for a moment or two, looking into each other's eyes. At last, Bryan loosed his grip, and the woman fell back into her chair, an uncontrollable tremor pervading her from head to foot.

"You must not let yourself get excited, Alexandra," said Bryan, in a voice as cold and malignant as poison turned to ice. "Your voice is not melodious when raised, and your nerves, as you see, do not obey your will. When will you be ready to set out for Paris?"

"No, I cannot!" said Lady Mayfair, hiding her face in her shaking hands. "Don't do it, Bryan!" she continued, looking up at him with a kind of wild misery. "Deny yourself this one thing! When it is done, what is it? Have you not made despair enough in the world?"

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