ing upon the couch-arm, "if it shouldn't, and any accident should happen, I shall perish in my own defence." Saying this, Aunt Tab tossed up her arms, and fell lengthways upon the hearth-rug. "The newspapers would be full of it!" admiringly sighed that old noodle Mrs. Leeson, who had a pin between her teeth, and was slyly gathering up her torn dress. I saw it all! My aunt, I knew, had received an invitation to go on a visit into Lincolnshire, and she had crazed herself over the newspaper accounts of the dangers to which ladies were exposed on the railway, until, under the foolish encouragement of her companion, she was having recourse to these ridiculous schemes of preservation; and the two were then engaged in the very act of rehearsing railway attacks and defences! My aunt was now gathering herself up from the rug, and I gently reclosed the door. I had not lodged in the same house with my relative very long; but I knew her well enough to understand that any open interference on my part would only make matters worse. But what was to be done! The very next day she was to start for Lincolnshire; and I felt convinced that if she intended travelling with those notions in her head, and weapons of those descriptions in her hands, something not included in the rehearsals would be certain to result. As ill-luck, too, would have it, Cousin Ned, who, like myself, on being sent up to town, had been placed under Aunt Tab's care, went off into Wales holidaying nearly a week ago. I had nobody to consult with, and, of course, could not disclose this preposterous conduct of my respected relative to any stranger. At dinner that day my aunt appeared with a large red bruise on her forehead, over the right eyebrow; and in the course of talk she asked me, in an accidental way, how persons managed to use flexible life preservers without hitting themselves instead of their assailants? The red mark was at once explained. My eccentric relative had been practicing with a life-preserver, and had given herself a tap by awkwardly manipulat ing it. I felt a secret delight on observing that Widow Leeson did not seem to have come off scot-free; she was walk ing decidedly lame of one leg, and there were faint traces of discoloration near one eye. She said she had knocked herself against a door; and stared very curiously at me when I replied, it was a good job it was not a railway carriage door-they were so thick and hard, I added, by way of explanation. In the course of that evening, during my aunt and Mrs. Leeson's absence, making some purchases connected with the morrow's journey, I contrived to penetrate into their rooms; and, lo! on the dressingtable in Aunt Tab's chamber I found an old-fashioned dagger (with an ugly blade at the least eight inches long), a whalebone-connected and lead-knobbed lifepreserver, and a six-barrelled Colt's revolver! I recognized each one of the murderous implements at a glance. My cousin Ned, who had gone demented on the Volunteer question, had constituted his bed-room a horrible armory of all kinds of weapons, offensive and defensive. The instruments before me I knew formed part of his awful stores, and my aunt must have helped herself to them since he left home. Upon closer examination of the pistol, I found that no less than four barrels were loaded, and that caps were ready placed on all the nipples! At some personal risk, for I don't much understand six-barrelled revolvers, I managed to get one charge out, and felt a sensible motion among my hair at sight of the three balls which it had included. It was the same with the other loaded barrels, making twelve bullets in all; and I breathed much freer when I had extracted the last, and substituted a very light paper wadding in each case. Upon the return of the two ladies from shopping, they shut themselves up in their own sitting-room, and, from the singular noises which were to be heard, I felt satisfied more rehearsals were in progress. Mrs. Leeson could scarcely limp in to supper; and my aunt's rather withered arms showed several patches of color, as if from rough grasping. During that night's uneasy slumbers, I was shot in railway carriages two or three hundred times, and so repeatedly stabbed with daggers, and furiously beaten with life-preservers, that I was quite sore when I finally awoke. I rose fully determined to accompany Aunt Tab on this railway excursion, taking a ticket by the same train, unknown to her, so as to be at hand in case of any emergency. She had an unusual air of determination on her strongly-marked features when I met her that morning on the stairs, and looked like a woman bent on heroic deeds. Mrs. Leeson's attendance made it unnecessary I should offer my services by way of escort to the railway, and I took an impressive farewell, as if going, as usual, into the City. But the mysterious conversation betwixt the two at the breakfast-table had only confirmed my resolution; and, instead of seeking the other side of Temple Bar, I hurried to the King's Cross railwaystation, where, ensconcing myself behind a pillar of the piazza, I awaited the arrival of my aunt's cab. Vehicles of all kinds came and went, bells rung for numberless trains, porters gave way to momentary fits of madness, and it was very weary waiting: but I stuck to my post. Had she discovered my tampering with the pistol, and, reloading it, accidentally shot herself?-or, failing that, had she by some mishap stabbed Mrs. Leeson on the road, and the conveyance necessarily diverged to one of the hospitals? In that case, I had wasted the cost of a second-class ticket to Peterborough, having already procured it, so as to save time. No: at length, within three or four minutes of the time for the train starting, my attention was attracted by the stentorian voice of a cabby. out in the papers to-morrer, for a murder on this heer line, somewheer' atween this and Colney!" This was a pretty beginning, I thought, as I rushed away to gain the platform while my aunt was procuring her ticket. Hiding behind other people in the vicinity of the book - stand, I watched the two go to a carriage where Aunt Tab secured a seat by placing something upon it--for anything I could tell, the six-barrelled revolver; and then, whilst she and Mrs. Leeson went towards the guard's van, to look after the luggage (which had been sent down before), I ran and leaped into a secondclass compartment of the same carriage my relative had selected, nestling myself away out of sight in the corner. By-and-by the bell rang, doors were slammed, and the train slowly got into motion, when I had a glimpse of Mrs. Leeson apparently sliding off into the rear while throwing encouraging last kisses to my aunt. I was in hopes, as only a very few minutes had elapsed, she might be in time to have another meeting with the prophetic cabman as she retired from the station. It was set down as a fast train, but its speed seemed very slow to me as I sat in the otherwise empty compartment, waiting in nervous apprehension for some mishap. I listened fearfully, half-expecting a pistol-shot every minute. But all went quietly, and, at last, when we reached the market-gardening districts, I got to "Mak' it a shillin', mum, an' I'll amusing myself by mentally tying up drive you all the way to Colney 'atch, the acres of onions on each side of the which 'll save railway fare," he was shout-line into long strings ready for the reing after a couple of ladies. But, mebbee, you're goin' down to shoot upo' the moors, an' mean gettin' into close quarters wi' a pistol to mak' sure o' yer aim." Mrs. Leeson turned and shook an angry fist at him; but my aunt, who was the other lady, stalked on unheed ing, like one consciously marching to a noble doom. "It's a very nice thing, ain't it?" added the cabby, addressing the group which instantly gathered about him, "to ha' a life-presarver lifted to you be a woman, becos you ax for a hextra sixpence, for havin' to go out o' yer road? An' I see'd she's got a pistol as big as a gun inside o' her muff. Look tail market. We arrived safely at Huntingdon, and there the train slackened and almost came to a pause for a moment, while the guard leaped out and ran along the platform for some purpose, but without actually stopping we instantly got up speed again. Just, however, as the train was leaving the station, a man's red face, with the hat nearly falling off behind, presented itself with an agonized expression at my carriage window, the man struggling to force himself through the aperture. "Help me in, help -!" he gasped, sticking fast half-way. Though much startled, I managed to get my arms under his broad shoulders. "You madman! you'll be killed!" exclaimed the guard, who was now running back the other way to leap into his van. "What must you get out of the other carriage for ?" and the official angrily gave the gentleman a push by the legs which, in forcing him through one window nearly sent me reeling out by the other. "I shall summons you, sir!" "I don't care! I'm not mad; but she in the next carriage is," panted my puff ing companion. "Don't say a word," he added, facing round to the guard; "I'll give you half a crown at the next station." "She? A lady, sir! The one in the next compartment? I'll inquire into it when we stop," significantly answered the guard; and the engineer, having, in answer to a signal from his whistle, slackened the rising speed again, the speaker leaped down, and hurried to regain his van. "I'll make it five shillings, guard, if you'll get my stick from her!" excitedly shouted the red-faced man. "Oh, dear,!" he said, turning to me, and rearranging his ruffled dress, "who will travel by railway, I say?" "What is the matter?" I very apprehensively inquired, for I well knew the lady in the next compartment must be my Aunt Tab. "I think you mentioned a lady, sir," I hypocritically inquired. "Nothing serious has happened to her, I hope ?" "To her! Let me get my breath, and I'll tell you," he panted, fanning himself with the handkerchief. "We'd left town about ten minutes, and I saw she was watching me very queerly; there were only ourselves in the carriage, you understand; well, to make friends with her, I just offered her my news. paper. You may believe me or not, but she deliberately came on, like this, and struck at me with a loaded life-preserver! Then she said something I did not catch, and pulled out a bowie-knife. It's true, sir, as true as I sit here. I believe she's a mad woman from the backwoods of America," he added, looking into the bottom of his hat before replacing it. "I "Was that all ?" I ventured to ask, glad that things were not worse. thought you alluded to a stick ?" "That all, young man! By Jove, if it had been you, I fancy you'd have thought it was enough. All?" he repeated in a hurried manner. "I had to sit in the corner as if my life was not my own, with a maniac glaring at me.” "Yes, but the stick ?" "The stick? Why, I happened to let it drop on the carriage-bottom just as "Watch smashed, I know, for I felt the we got into the last station. Whereglass go as I tumbled in," he remarked, abouts are we, for I don't know ?" and pulling out a dilapidated watch. "But, he gazed helplessly out of the window. thank goodness, I'm safe!" and he gasped" Huntingdon, is it? It slipped out o' again. "Catch me in a first-class any more! I'll go third in future as long as I live. No man's safe, sir; not with a woman old enough to be his own grandmother." "Sit down and compose yourself; you've had rather a narrow escape," I faltered, more and more convinced my aunt was at the bottom of it. "Escape! I should have had a bullet in me, sir, if I hadn't bolted. She's as mad as a hare; I could see it in her eyes," and he dropped exhausted on the seat. "Talk about Banting's system? This beats Banting hollow. I've lost pounds and pounds since we left London." Removing his hat, he vigorously mopped his face and head with his handkerchief. "I'm all in a vapor bath at this minute." He was rather a fat man, well-dressed, having the look of a gentleman farmer. my fingers, the stick did, and I was stooping to pick it up-yards away from her-when she screamed out, 'Let it be!' and drew a pistol, sir; a revolver with eight or ten barrels, It's true, upon my honor! I thought the train was stopping, but I'd have jumped out of it, if we'd been on a viaduct, for I'm sure she's raving." "There have been so many cases lately of ladies assaulted in railway carriages, that perhaps she "-I was simply intending to say that perhaps my aunt was not an escaped lunatic, but had armed herself under that mistaken fear but I was stopped. "Good heavens! Is that the way you look at it?" exclaimed my companion, rising horror-stricken from his seat. "I assure you I never touched the lady; I never was within a yard of her, till I had to brush past. You don't believe it, I see! I'm a married man, and have five children at home. Is it likely-is it reasonable? My bankers will tell you I am respectable, sir. I never put a finger on her, and nobody would do, for she's as ugly as sin. My soul! To think of such a charge as this! She's seventy years of age, sir. Is it likely ?" "She is not fifty yet, sir," I stammered out. "But I didn't touch her. I'll swear it! Interfere with a woman armed in that way; is it reasonable to think it ?" he again pleaded. "But," he quickly who knows what lies she'll tell the guard? And my name's on the stick in full, it's a presentation stick. Oh dear!" he groaned, tumbling back on the seat. went on, "I suppose, from what the guard said, he'll ask the lady; but I don't think you need be afraid," I remarked soothingly. "After this row in the papers, the magistrates would commit a saint; and there are lots o' folks who'd believe it against a new-born babe. Let me get out! I may as well be killed as disgraced. What would my wife say? I should never have another hour's peace. Let me go. I have a bit of luggage, but anybody may have that-you may! But I swear I never touched her; an' if it's the last word I say, I vow it's true." He had become so excited, that I won't say he would not have left the carriage instanter, if I would have allowed him. I was obliged to confess that I knew the lady, and that she was very eccentric, but I assured him she would never make any such charge as he apprehended. After some time, I succeeded in quieting the gentleman a little, and in the intervals of wiping profuse perspiration from his face, head, and neck, he repeatedly intimated that, if I would but recover for him his stick, his house, his lands, the balance at his bankers, and nearly everything that was his, should be at my disposal whenever I chose to visit the neighborhood of Gainsborough, where, it seemed, he resided. "I've seen somewhere, it's forty shillings for getting into a carriage while the train's moving," said my companion. "I'll give the guard two pounds willing. ly, and end it," he said, pulling out his purse to be ready, for the train was stopping for collection of tickets at Peterbor ough. "By jingo, there it goes! She's finished somebody!" and the money rattled to the bottom of the carriage, as I leaped to my feet, for the sharp crack of a pistol was heard from the adjoining compartment. All was instantly commotion. The train stopped, and every window was crowded with heads; the women shrieked, and the men shouted. I opened our door, for I was horrified to see a man in railway uniform stretched on the ticket platform. "Is he a ticket collector? I thought he was a ruffian!" uttered my aunt's rough and now agonized tones, as she leaned out of the next window, with the revolver in her hand. Then, a long, loud scream escaping from her, she loosed the deadly weapon, which rattled down among the wheels, and closing her eyes, she grew very pale, and subsided within in a swoon. A number of us hurried to the man in the railway uniform, who still lay on the platform quite motionless. Upon raising him, he was seen to be wounded on the upper part of the forehead. A rivulet of blood trickled down, and the front locks of hair were singed and frizzled. I believed, for the moment, that my aunt had reloaded the pistol, and startling visions of trials for murder flitted before my eyes. But the man almost instantly rallied, and a surgeon, who was among the passengers, pronounced that the wound was only a skin-graze from the wadding. The collector, in answer to the fifty-and-one inquiries made at once, explained that as the train was stopping, he put his hand on the carriage door to ask for the lady's ticket, when she instantly lifted her arm and shot him! Aunt Tab, amidst all the burly-burly which prevailed, was lifted out of the carriage, and carried down to the station, where she was conveyed to the station-master's room, fortunately remaining unconscious the while. I got my Gainsborough friend (who in the interval had contrived to secure his stick) to accompany me to the head official, and relate what he had observed of the lady's demeanor, urging this in corroboration of my own account of the craze my aunt had been encouraged in by that ridiculous Mrs. Leeson. From my unlucky relative's own story, when she had a little come round, it ap peared that she had been lying back in the carriage, with her eyes shut, ruminating on the narrow escape she had had from unheard-of peril by the forced flight of a cowardly assailant at Huntingdon, and as the train slackened for Peterborough, she opened her eyes to find a man's face at the window, whereupon she raised the pistol, and pulled the trigger instantly. It was very fortunate for the man that I had extracted the original charge, and as no bullets were found in the other barrels, the charges of which were at once drawn, I represented that my aunt's only object was to raise an alarm. The wounded man, however, intimated that it was not part of his ordinary duties to be shot at by lady passengers even with blank cartridge; and my aunt, overjoyed to see him alive, wished to present to him her portemonnaie. I took care that he was handsomely compensated; and, indeed, we parted on such a friendly footing, that, winking shrewdly from underneath a great patch of sticking-plaster, he said he would not mind being shot at again upon the same terms. After some two hour's delay, during which time my aunt was examined mentally by three local doctors, it was graciously decided not to call in magisterial interference, on the condition that I at once conveyed my relative back to London, and pledged myself to place her under proper medical control. I and the crushed lady accordingly returned to town by the next up-train, in a state of mind on her part which I shall not attempt to describe. She has not paid the visit into Lincolnshire, and I do not expect she ever will. Aunt Tab has never asked for any explanation of how I came to be so opportunely at hand at Peterborough, but most likely she learned it all from Mrs. Leeson, with whom I held a boisterous conversation immediately after she had recovered the surprise of my aunt's unexpected re turn. From Bentley's Miscellany. NAPOLEON AND THE BURIED TREASURE IN PERSIA.* BY DR. MICHELSEN. IN 1807, General Gardanne was informed by a correspondent that a relative of his own, who had resided for a number of years in Persia, had, in conse quence of a popular outbreak, fled from the country, after burying in a secret spot his accumulated wealth, amounting to several millions of piastres. The spot in question was so minutely described, and even sketched out in a forwarded plan of the environs of Ispahan, that Gardanne had not the least doubt of the correctness of the intelligence. He showed the letter to his master the emperor, and asked his permission to repair to Persia in search of the treasure. Napoleon, having perused the letter, shook his head, and said, "I will think of it." A few days after, the emperor sent for Gardanne, and conversed good-humoredly about the imaginary treasure. "The *From the unpublished Chroniques des Tuileries. By FOUCHARD LAFOSSE. affair, my good general, seems to me fabulous; buried treasures belong to the Contes Bleus." 'But, sire," interrupted Gardanne, “I have such a minute sketch and description of the spot, and all the particulars.' "That may be," said Napoleon; "but they come from the land of the Arabian Nights, and I fear that the story of your inheritance is but a supplement of that volume. However," added he, more seriously, "your project has suggested to me a certain political movement, and since you are bent upon the journey, you have my permission to go. At the same time, you can render me an important service." "That," bowed Gardanne, "will be a second treasure to me." Ay, and far more real than the first." "Your Majesty does not believe in gnomes ?" "There are two kinds of gnomes," replied Napoleon: "the preserving and |