nature who does not love men. How can we admire the charming little individuality of the flower, how can we call ourselves brother with the animal, feel drawn with tenderness towards it, as Francis of Assisi was, if we do not also love men our real brothers? Complete union of man with nature can only be effected by the destruction of the frontiers between castes as well as between peoples. Forsaking old conventions, it is necessary that every individual should be able, in all brotherliness, to address himself to any one of his equals, and to talk freely of all that interests him, of "all that is human," as Terence said. Life, brought back to its early simplicity, admits in that very fact full and cordial liberty of commerce between men. Has humanity made real progress in this way? It would be absurd to deny it. That which one calls "the democratic tide" is nothing else but this growing sentiment of equality between the representatives of the different castes, until recently hostile one to the other. Under a thousand apparent changes in the surface, the work is being accomplished in the depths of the nations. Thanks to the increasing knowledge men are gaining of themselves and others, they are arriving by degrees at the discovery of the common ground upon which we all resemble each other, and at getting rid of superficial opinions which keep us apart. We are, then, steadily advanc. ing towards future reconciliation, and, by this very fact, towards a form of happiness very different in extent from that which sufficed our forefathersthe animals and the primitive Our material and moral world becomes more vast, and this in itself increases our conception of happiness, which henceforward will only be held to be such on condition of its being shared by all; of its being made conscious and rational, and of its embracing in its scope the earnest researches of science and the possessions of art.

men.

It is, then, with all confidence that

we reply to the question which every man asks himself: Yes, humanity has really progressed, from crisis to crisis and from relapse to relapse, since the beginning of those millions of years which constitute the short conscious period of our life.

ELISEE RECLUS.

From The Pall Mall Magazine. THE MISDEMEANORS OF THE LADY

GERTRUDE.

The poor tutor was alone with her; and though it was in the days when men fought hard battles even against their own kinsmen, if they so thought it was for the right, his heart throbbed just as a tutor's heart might throb today, with the difference that he had not learnt to count its beats, as our enamoured youth, two hundred years wiser, have learnt to do, in a self-controlled manner eminently conducive to the steadying of that obstreperous organ. It must break bounds, he felt sure, in another minute; and for all that the disaster should cost him-his life, i.e., his bread and butter-he could discover within himself no regret at its imminence, but on the contrary felt a certain audacious joy running riot in his blood. What mattered the great insurrection, the cruelties of Judge Jefferies, and a fugitive patron, with a price upon his head, when Love had sought shelter in his heart, and she, to whom he had built a shrine, was just as far away from him as the width of the table! Of what consequence that she was the conspirator, and he but a tutor without Lady Gertrude, the daughter of a noble land or wealth! So he continued his reading therefrom:story, looking at his book as if he were

"And the poor man loved the rich lady, and he dared not tell her of his love lest she should scorn him."

"Then surely he was fearful at a nothing, which methinks means he was a coward, Master Humphrey."

"Why should he expect such anger?" "He had naught to offer her but his love."

"Love were wealth enough! But I am tired of your story. "Tis not so good as you are wont to tell, Master Humphrey; and 'tis our last lesson," she added, very gently.

"You will not miss the lessons?"

"No, not my lessons, only the stories, -I have loved some of them!" And she moved restlessly in her seat as if she would say more, yet could not find the words. "But surely my father should be here even now?" she murmured at last.

The poor tutor turned pale. "You will go with him to Holland?" he said.

"It would be too great a risk to accompany him, but I follow to-morrow if all succeeds as we have planned. Ah! if they should take him! They have killed the duke. Why are they not satisfied? Poor Monmouth!"

"They will not take him!"

"Now at the last moment I am terrified lest things should not go well. Look at the time! He may be here at any moment. Indeed, he should be her now!"

The Lady Gertrude rose hastily, and stood-tall even as the young tutor by her side with a look of eager impatience on her fair face.

"Not yet time, I think," said he. "To cross the marshes on foot needs indeed an hour."

So they stood irresolute, each with hearts for one another and thoughts for the absent fugitive.

"There are learned men in Holland, I am told," stammered the young man irrelevantly.

"It is so rumored; yet not more than that there would still be room for another. I am sure, Master Humphrey!" Which pretty speech nigh overpowered the equanimity of Master Humphrey, and threw him into a discourteous silence like enough to pique his noble pupil, who, indeed, felt she had made too bold, and had lacked in

answer.

"Continue your story, sir," she said, with marked coldness. "I have no mind for lessons just now."

"There is no more to tell, my lady," he said.

"Then 'tis a poor story!"
""Twas about a poor man."
"With a poor spirit!"

"Nay, do not challenge him; for he hath an idea "twere better to be poorspirited than false-hearted."

"Why should he be either?"

"Were it not a mean thing to harass an unprotected lady, and false to betray the trust of her noble parent, his patron, when he was absent risking life for his country?"

"To harass her would be wrong, sir; to betray a trust a worser wrong; yet I cannot see that, if he loved the lady well, he would be doing either of these things."

"Madam, were I, your humble tutor, the poor man, would you still so reason?"

"Were you that man, Master Humphrey, I could but be sorry for the lady!"

""Tis a fair answer: I crave your pardon! Shall we continue the translation?"

And the tutor's hands trembled as he turned a page. He did not dare to meet her gaze, for the sting of shame was blinding him; but within the eyes of Lady Gertrude there lurked mischief, peeping with the winged god from under her fringed eyelids in wanton audacity.

"Were you the man, in truth I should be sorry for the lady to have so inconstant a lover."

"Inconstant, madam?"

"Who will make love, wherever he may find a ready listener, though in covert language that saves him from a ueclaration. Pray, Master Humphrey, if it be as you declare, that you are this man, convey my sympathies to the lady!"

Now the tutor rose in wrath, and would have gone his way, for without doubt his mistress was making sport of

"It is my father!" cried the girl, aware that he alone knew the secret passage. Then Master Humphrey saw a look of joyful relief rise to her pretty face, and he remembered how brave she had been, how good and noble and fair she was, and how miserable a worm he; and so lifted his head in the pride of humiliation, as humble-minded folk are wont to do, in such a manner that the Lady Gertrude found him as beautiful and arrogant as a king, for all his shabby clothes and slight stature.

"I may not see you again; he will cross to-day-I to-morrow," she said, in sudden haste.

a little silence between them, as with those whose hearts are too full to speak. It was speedily broken, however, by a loud ringing of the great bell, which reverberated from the deserted courtyard below through the house. The girl hastened to the casement window, and looked quickly out.

"There are armed men," she said: "they have traced you here."

"Wary hounds," he murmured, with a look of grim humor,-"to the hole, but not within. Twenty minutes, and I shall be beyond the most cunning ferret's scent. God be with you, little daughter! Keep them dallying here awhile.

Remember to-morrow at Ballam Bridge by nightfall!"

The panel fell back, and the Lady Gertrude sat down to her books, and made

She noted how white he looked, and the mischief died from the girl's eyes. She toyed with the lace handkerchief in her hands, then glanced hurriedly at the panelled door that must open in a moment.

"And will you please," said she somewhat haughtily, yet with a tremor in her voice that sounded strangely sweet to him, "give this to ner from me!" Therewith she kissed the poor tutor on the cheek; and he would there and then have carried the message to the sweet lips so near, but she slipped from his grasp to the panelled door.

"Across the seas," said he: "I will take her the gift to-morrow,-maybe there will be room in Holland for a simple scholar."

The fugitive noble stood in the shadow of the opened panelling, and the Lady Gertrude, full of apprehension that he should stay too long, strained an ear to catch any ominous sounds from without, and drank in eagerly the detailed plans he slowly explained of his own escape to Holland, and her journey thither on the morrow by another route. He looked pale and tired, yet still had a smile for the girl who showed no fear tnough life and death were hanging in

as the old doorkeeper, scare-stricken and panting, tumbled into the room with an officer of the king's service on his heels."

"Please, my lady, the house is full of soldiers," said he.

"And, good Oliver, what is their will?" said she, not deigning to raise her eyes from her book.

"No harm to so fair a hostess!" exclaimed the intruder.

Whereupon the Lady Gertrude slowly lifted her pretty head, and scanned the uncomely countenance and fat proportions of the officer with much deliberation.

66

"Should fairness diminish harm, sir, 'twere a pity there were not more of the quality among his Majesty's servants." Tis a dangerous wit that would challenge the king's army, madam." "The army brooks so little danger, sir!"

"Not so the Lady Gertrude! But a truce, fair one, to the war of words. I am here to crave your hospitality whilst waiting for the presence of one who, I am informed, purposes to visit his daughter between the times of noon and midnight. You start!-'Tis now hardly noon. We demand to know, in the king's name, at what precise hour that interview is to take place."

further learning. Yet till then must I remain a prisoner here for fear of my very life," laughed she.

Then the poor tutor arose in sudden anxiety, and said, "Were you seen to enter here?"

And she answered that some children were loitering on the steps, and that she remembered a young man in shabby clothes did stare at her. "He had a hungry look, so that I would have given him a piece of silver, but that I was in too great a hurry."

"There are spies enough to make the whole place dangerous," said he, "poor wretches, too, who become such for bread-and-butter, so distressful are the

times."

Now, hardly had Master Humphrey spoken than a clamor without sent the blood from his cheeks, and fear at last into the dauntless eyes of the Lady Gertrude.

"Quick! within," said he, and thrust open the door of the narrow chamber and closed it upon her. Then the steady tramp of men's feet echoed upon the winding stair.

"In the king's name!" said a tall officer, as he entered the room followed by several men-at-arms. There was a strange look in his eyes as he met the tutor's gaze, and he faltered in his speech whilst repeating the common formula.

"There is no one here," answered the student deliberately.

"It is necessary the place should be searched," replied the officer; and I must warn you that, if the prisoner be found, your life will be forfeited without trial, as a traitor harboring those in conspiracy against his Majesty's crown."

"Search," said the officer. He had grown pale as the poor youth, who bent with seeming indifference over his books, yet who longed to spring at the throats of these armed men and with his two hands hurl a half dozen thereof down the stairway; but he deemed 'twere wiser to remain quiet, for the men were many and he but one against them, so that for his lady's sake he bit his lips and clung close to his chair as the men approached the little door, which opened suddenly from within, as a beautiful youth in a velvet suit, with fine lace ruffs, and a mass of brown curly hair, falling negligently about his shoulders, such as was then the fashion to affect, confronted the officer.

"What noisy matter is this?" said he haughtily. "Is there no peace even for students, who, loyal to his Majesty, claim but the quiet of their chambers to peruse the books which tell of mightier deeds than those of the internal wars of a discontented people?"

Now a look of humor crept into the officer's eyes, as he bowed perhaps lower than was necessary to so young and haughty a youth.

"I am grieved to so disturb you, sir," said he. "We have been misinformed, for apparently the lady we seek is not here!" and he turned upon his heel and departed with his men from the lowly roof of the tutor.

"Master Humphrey," said the beautiful youth-and his face was now crimson even as the skies after the sun hath set-"you risked being hung on high, Master Humphrey, for me." And there were tears in his eyes.

Then indeed did nearly all Master Humphrey's fortitude depart. "Lady, 'twere a paltry thing to risk!" said he,

and within himself he thought, "Now indeed I cannot woo her, for 'twould be the way of a coward to thus force advantage of a maid's gratitude." But

group.