is for Sarah's sake. If you please, listen now,
and hear if I can say to you over again all
that you have said to me?"

Standing before Rosamond, with something
in his look and manner strangely and touchingly
suggestive of the long past days of his
childhood, and of the time when he had said
his earliest lessons at his mother's knee, he
now repeated, from first to last, the instructions
that had been given to him, with a
verbal exactness, with an easy readiness of
memory, which, in a man of his age, was
nothing less than astonishing. "Have I kept
it all as I should?" he asked simply, when
he had come to an end. " And may I go my
ways now, and take my good news to Sarah's
bedside?"

It was still necessary to detain him, while
Rosamond and her husband consulted together
on the best and safest means of following
up the avowal that the Secret was discovered
by the announcement of their own presence
in London. After some consideration, Leonard
asked his wife to produce the document which
the lawyer had drawn out that morning, and
to write a few lines, from his dictation, on
the blank side of the paper, requesting Mrs.
Jazeph to read the form of declaration, and
to affix her signature to it, if she felt that it
required her, in every particular, to affirm
nothing that was not the exact truth. When
this had been done, and when the leaf on
which Mrs. Frankland had written had been
folded outwards, so that it might be the first
page to catch the eye, Leonard directed that
the paper should be given to the old man, and
explained to him what he was to do with it,
in these words:

"When you have broken the news about the
Secret to your niece," he said, "and when you
have allowed her full time to compose
herself, if she asks questions about my wife and
myself (as I believe she will) hand that paper
to her for answer, and beg her to read it.
Whether she is willing to sign it, or not, she
is sure to inquire how you came by it.
Tell her in return that you have received
it from Mrs. Frankland using the word
'received,' so that she may believe at first
that it was sent to you from Porthgenna
by the post. If you find that she signs the
declaration, and that she is not much
agitated after doing so, then tell her in the
same gradual way in which you tell the
truth about the discovery of the Secret,
that my wife gave the paper to you with
her own hands, and that she is now in
London—"

"Waiting and longing to see her," added
Rosamond. "You, who forget nothing, will
not, I am sure, forget to say that?"

The little compliment to his powers of
memory made Uncle Joseph colour with
pleasure, as if he was a boy again.  Promising
to prove worthy of the trust reposed in him,
and engaging to come back and relieve Mrs.
Frankland of all suspense before the day
was out, he took his leave, and went forth
hopefully on his momentous errand.

Rosamond watched him from the window,
threading his way in and out among the
throng of passengers on the pavement, until
he was lost to view. How nimbly the tight
little figure sped away out of sight! How
gaily the unclouded sunlight poured down on
the cheerful bustle in the street! The whole
being of the great city basked in the summer
glory of the day; all its mighty pulses beat
high; and all its myriad voices whispered of
hope!

CHIP.

MONTHLY SALARIES.

A CORRESPONDENT writes:

Will you allow me earnestly to ask your
interference to procure a great good for that
numerous and well abused class called
Government clerks.

You do not need the information that the
deduction from official salaries of one shilling
and fourpence in the pound on account of
income-tax, the war-prices of most articles of
food, and the pressure of local taxation, have
told severely on that class, and that the result
is great pecuniary difficulty and distress.
Mechanics, though they earn much more
than many Government officers, can live in a
much less expensive style, and have the
advantage of weekly payments, by which they
are enabled to avoid the system of quarterly
bills. Under that system a man pays at
least twenty per cent, more for his goods
than the fair selling prices, and is kept under
a degrading bondage to his tradesmen.

In the Custom-house, the Post-office, and
some other Government departments, the
clerks memorialised the Treasury, who,
thereupon, directed the payment of their
salaries, monthly. In the Inland Revenue
Department the salaries are paid every six
weeks, and the change has operated most
beneficially. Now, my object is to get the
system of monthly payments extended
throughout the service. It may be asked,
why does not each office memorialise the
Treasury, and quote the precedents above
named? The answer is simple. In some
offices the clerks dare not so memorialise.
In the department to which I belong such a
memorial was prepared, and signed by a
majority. We then, in the usual courtesy,
asked one of our official chiefs simply to
forward it to the Treasury. The only result of
our labour was the return of the memorial
with silent contempt and a hint that monthly
payments were not considered respectable!

I should mention that about two years
ago the Paymaster-General's department was
reorganised for the special purpose of paying
all public salaries; therefore, the proposed
extension of monthly payments would entail
no inconvenience or cost on the several