"Light And Shade."

His wife had in the meanwhile lit the candles , drawn the curtains , and arranged thc humble tea equipage . Presently a loud ring at tlie door-bell was heard , there was a hurried conversation in the passage , a quick step sounded on thc stairs , and the landlady , with a frightened expression on her face , abruptly entered thc room .

As if divining a misfortune , Mrs . Tracey started up and exclaimed , " Something has happened to my dear husband , Mrs . Walton ? Oh , let me hear all . " The kind-hearted landlady had received bad news , but did not wish to communicate the ill-tidings too suddenly . " Mr . Tracey is—is—very—very unwell , " she stammered out . '' He met with an accident in the street , and has been taken to the hospital . "

What hospital ? ' demanded Mrs . Tracey . " I must go to him at once , " and she spoke with a strange calmness , although her countenance was most pitiful to behold in its suppressed agony . " Had you not better wait till tho morning , my dear lady ? " was thc evasive remark of the other . " He is in the best of hands , every attention will bo paid to him , every want supplied . "

No , Mrs . Walton , I insist upon knowing where he is , " was the firm reply . "In sickness or in danger , the place of a true wife is by her husband ' s side . " Perceiving that her good intentions to keep buck the actual facts were fruitless , the landlady told thc unfortunate wife that the artist had been taken to the adjoining Middlesex Hospital , and at the time when tho messenger loft , was lying there in an unconscious state . Mrs . Tracey quickty attired herself , and leaving her weeping boy to the care of the kind woman of the house , she hurried through the streets and was soon at the institution .

The hall-porter in answer to her anxious inquiries told her , somewhat indiscreetly , that her husband bad been brought there in a dying state . Upon searching Ms pockets they had found an opened letter addressed to " Mr . Albert Tracey , Morland House , Charlotte Street , Fit / . roy Square . " The authorities had then sont off a messenger to that address for purposes of inquiry . " Oh , take me to him at once , " entreated the poor lady , thc tears that she had so bravely kept back now welling from her eves . " Is he so very , very ill Y "

" Perhaps yon had better stay a little , ma ' am , " said the porter , who although daily accustomed to see grief or suffering in all its phases , yet was moved by the sorrow depicted on his questioner's beautiful face . "If you were to be taken to him now thc shock might be too great for you . " "I can bear it ; oh , I can endure everything except suspense , " she murmured . Thc official thereupon summoned a nurse .

" ThiB lady , " he said , " wishes to see the last case that was brought in , Xo . 20 , 1 think . She has called to identify liiin . " The woman nodded her head , and hade Mrs . Tracey to follow her . Imagine the horror of the distressed wife when she was conducted not to the comfortable and comparatively bright surroundings of the hospital ward , but to a gloomy mortuary chamber . Had the oflicial prepared her for thc scene it would have

been a painful infliction , but to be taken thus suddenly into the awful presence of tho dead was appalling to a degree . It was a grim , cold place , dimly lighted by a lamp , and in the obscurity , or rather " darkness visible , " could be seen several rigid forms of pour humanity whose sufferings and whose cares had ceased to trouble them . Mrs . Tracey for a few moments was speechless , her eyes were fixed and dry , her mouth moved , but no words came from her parched lips and her frame shook violently .

Tho nurse , being inured to such gruesome sights , said , in an unimpassicmed manner , " He was brought to us apparently in a fit ; he had evidently fallen heavily and struck his head upon tho stones . We applied restoratives , but they ¦ were of no avail , tho resident surgeon wns then fetched , and upon examination pronounced him dead . His body , according to tho usual custom in such cases , was carried here . "

Recovering from her stupor , tho hapless woman threw herself upon the form of him she had loved so well , aud gave way to a paroxysm of tears and lamentations . Tho nurse compassionately allowed her fo give full vent to her grief for some minutes , and then kindly , though firmly , drew her from the body . " Come ,

madam , come , you must not stay here , this is no place for you , " she said , soothingly , and then supported the almost inanimate form of Mrs . Tracey to the door . At that moment a deep-drawn sigh was heard , which in the awful stillness sounded weirdly . Mrs . Tracey , whose nerves wore quite unhinged , shrieked , and the nurse , strong woman though she was , shuddered , and gave utterance to an exclamation of alarm . Again did thc melancholy sound echo through the death chamber .

Ihe attendant nt once recovered her composure , and rushed towards thc spot whence the moan proceeded . " Your husband lives , " she exclaimed , and then violently pulled a bell which couimiiiiicated with the porter ' s room . It was indeed true , the examination by the surgeon had been but cursorily made . Tracey was in a species of cataleptic fit . In all probability contact with thc cold slab upon which his body rested , and tho draught of air caused by the entry of his wife and the nurse into the mortuary had revived him . Suffice it to nay that lie recovered , and in a week left the hospital , nnd was once more restored

"Light And Shade."

to those who so dearly loved him . However , he was neither physically nor mentally the man he was before his seizure . When in thc presence of his wife and child he tried to be cheerful , and succeeded in his endeavours , but in their absence he was oppressed and morbidly imagined that his dissolution was imminent . A few days before Christmas he received a letter which for the time created a favourable reaction .

' Good news , my love , " he merrily cried , as he waved the missive in the air . " Thc dark clouds that have so long obscured tho fortunes of thc house of Tracey are lifting , and as the poet says : ' Hope , like the gleaming taper ' s light , adorns and cheers the way . ' You remember , " he added , " the picture that I painted with a view to its being accepted by the Academy , and upon which , false prophetess as you were , you had raised such anticipations Y "

" I do , only too well , ' sighed his wife , and her eyes moistened as she recalled the circumstance , and the charming home amid the breezy hills of pleasant Surrey . " Well , tlie dealer who bought it has written to say thai a wealthy customer of his , a collector of modern works of art , will give a hundred guineas for a similar landscape . " " A hundred guineas' . " she repeated . " That is a large sum considering that the picture you were working upon when trouble overtook us fetched hut £ 20 . "

" Yes , but that was at a forced sale , " he replied . "I will go at once and s-cc old llyam Nathan , there is more in this communication than meets the eye . " Tlie result of the interview was satisfactory to both the dealer and the artist . The former , of course , before he divulged the name and address of his patron , secured from Tracey an undertaking that a liberal douceur should be given not only for the introduction but upon all future commissions . A day or two later

Nathan s customer called upon the Tracey ' s , and he was forcibly impressed with the landscape at that time on the easel . He considerately gave the artist i'fSO on account , and told him that if the picture could be satisfactorily finished by thc 23 th December , he would give £ U 0 in excess of the stipulated price . He alleged as liis reason for the haste that he wished to present it to his married daughter on that particular date as a birthday gift .

The enthusiastic an ist whose soul wns always in his work needed no such mercenary incentive to spur him on . He was only too anxious' to gratify bis liberal patron , who was well known in the world of art and letters , and 03- whoso kind olliccs he hoped , he poetically said , "to climb the steep where fame ' s proud temple shines afar . "

It is needless to state that his devoted wife and son shared his joy . Mrs . Tracey , to please thc boy , organised a juvenile party on Christmas Eve and gaily decora t ed the room where it was to he held . Some dozen youngsters of both sexes , the children of the neighbours came , and were hugely delighted with the entertainment .

The now happy artist worked at his picture as long as daylight permitted , and then catching the infection of brightness and pleasure that the presence of thc children and their merriment engendered , threw himself heart and soul into their sports and amusements . He succeeded so well that he was pronounced to be , in a series of stage whispers , by several precocious damsels of twelve summers , or

thereabouts , as "A dear , delightful man . " As a further piv of of popularity , and just before breaking up time he had to submit to a perfect shower of oscillatory favours by both girls and boys . One blue-eyed mite in particular insisted upon being held up in order to kiss him under the mistletoe . It was about nine o ' clock when the youthful guests departed .

" Mabel , my dear , " said her husband , " we have had a cheerful gathering . May we sec many more such . The excitement 1 am afraid , however , has been a little too much for me . 1 feel slightly weary . I shall now retire . Call me at eight o ' clock to-morrow morning as 1 wish to take advantage of the early light to put the finishing touches fo the picture . Jt must he delivered in Cavendish Square by noon . 1 shall take a cabriolet there and back . 1 was in hopes to have completed it to-day , but the light wns against me . " He called his son to his side ,

and , warmly kissing him , said , " Bertie , my boy , may to-day ' s unalloyed pleasure bo a brilliant augury of a prosperous future for you . You shall yet roam in tho pleasant and classic fields of Warwickshire . The old foundation of Hugby , with its glorious traditions and the memories of tho illustrious and mighty dead that haunt its walls shall enter on its rolls the not—I trust—1111 lioiioured name of Truccy . ( iod bless you , my son , and may to-morrow ' s joyful feast-day bring to you and your mamma nothing but happiness and heart-rejoicing . "

Jn alter years and on each returning Christinas Kve Hcrtie Tracey remembered those words of his sire , and the earnest manner in which they were delivered . It was 11 pleasant , yet sad , memory , unci was vividly mirrored 111 his mint ! as if tho scene were but of yesterday . Thc olcl . fnshioiieil room , gay with festive garlands , and illumined by the blazing lire , seemed quite transformed from its ordinary daylight dinginess . Then there wns his sweet-faced mother , looking like the

Madonna 111 his picture book , silting in an easy chair and gazing fondly upon her beloved ones . To complete the pleasant mental image , his father ' s bright , intellectual face and eyes flashing with unwonted lustre stood boldly out . At midnight Mrs . Truccy , whose sleep hud been disturbed by strange dreams , awoke , and presently heard the resonant bells of the neighbouring church merrily ringing ihe advent of another Christmas . The night taper in the room had gono out , but the glorious moon was Hooding everything with its silvern glorv . Presently she

Ad03002

METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL , KINGSLAND ROAD , E . Pairoji ^ -THE PRINCE OF WALES . Chairman—JOSEPH FRY , ESQ . Hon . Secretary—SIR EDMUND HAY CURME . THE NEW BUILDING FOR 160 BEDS IS NOW COMPLETE . THE HOSPITAL IS CONDUCTED ON STRICTLY PROVIDENT PRINCIPLES . ACCIDENTS & CASES of URGENCY ADMITTED AT ALL HOURS FREE . THE CHARITY HAS NO ENDOWMENT . Funds urgently needed for Furnishing , Opening , and Maintaining the New Wards , Bankers—GLYN , MILLS , & Co ., and LLOYD ' S BANK , LIMITED . CHARLES H . BYERS , Secretary .