giving a 'small and early'; but it transpired that all the silver-
sellers had called at the same hour, and it took the united strength

of Dawson and Mr. Beresford, together with my diplomacy, to rescue
the poor child from their clutches. She came out alive, but her

safety was purchased at the cost of a George IV. cream-jug, an
Elizabethan sugar-bowl, and a Boadicea tea-caddy, which were, I

doubt not, manufactured in Wardour Street towards the close of the
nineteenth century.

Salemina came in just then, cold and tired. (Tower and National
Gallery the same day. It's so much more work to go to the Tower

nowadays than it used to be!) We had intended to take a sail to
Richmond on a penny steamboat, but it was drizzling, so we had a

cosy fire instead, slipped into our tea-gowns, and ordered tea and
thin bread-and-butter, a basket of strawberries with their frills

on, and a jug of Devonshire cream. Willie Beresford asked if he
might stay; otherwise, he said, he should have to sit at a cold

marble table on the corner of Bond Street and Piccadilly, and take
his tea in bachelor solitude.

"Yes," I said severely, "we will allow you to stay; though, as you
are coming to dinner, I should think you would have to go away some

time, if only in order that you might get ready to come back.
You've been here since breakfast-time."

"I know," he answered calmly, "and my only error in judgment was
that I didn't take an earlier breakfast, in order to begin my day

here sooner. One has to snatch a moment when he can, nowadays; for
these rooms are so infested with British swells that a base-born

American stands very little chance!"
Now I should like to know if Willie Beresford is in love with

Francesca. What shall I do--that is what shall we do--if he is,
when she is in love with somebody else? To be sure, she may want

one lover for foreign and another for domestic service. He is too
old for her, but that is always the way. When Alcides, having gone

through all the fatigues of life, took a bride in Olympus, he ought
to have selected Minerva, but he chose Hebe.

I wonder why so many people call him 'Willie' Beresford, at his age.
Perhaps it is because his mother sets the example; but from her lips

it does not seem amiss. I suppose when she looks at him she recalls
the past, and is ever seeing the little child in the strong man,

mother fashion. It is very beautiful, that feeling; and when a girl
surprises it in any mother's eyes it makes her heart beat faster, as

in the presence of something sacred, which she can understand only
because she is a woman, and experience is foreshadowed in intuition.

The Honourable Arthur had sent us a dozen London dailies and
weeklies, and we fell into an idle discussion of their contents over

the teacups. I had found an 'exchange column' which was as
interesting as it was novel, and I told Francesca it seemed to me

that if we managed wisely we could rid ourselves of all our useless
belongings, and gradually amass a collection of the English articles

we most desired. "Here is an opportunity, for instance," I said,
and I read aloud-

"'S.G., of Kensington, will post 'Woman' three days old regularly
for a box of cut flowers.'"

"Rather young," said Mr. Beresford, "or I'd answer that
advertisement myself."

I wanted to tell him I didn't suppose that he could find anything
too young for his taste, but I didn't dare.

"Salemina adores cats," I went on. "How is this, Sally, dear?-
"'A handsome orange male Persian cat, also a tabby, immense coat,

brushes and frills, is offered in exchange for an electro-plated
revolving covered dish or an Allen's Vapour Bath.'"

"I should like the cat, but alas! I have no covered dish," sighed
Salemina.

"Buy one," suggested Mr. Beresford. "Even then you'd be getting a
bargain. Do you understand that you receive the male orange cat for

the dish, and the frilled tabby for the bath, or do you get both in
exchange for either of these articles? Read on, Miss Hamilton."

"Very well, here is one for Francesca-
"'A harmonium with seven stops is offered in exchange for a really

good Plymouth cockerel hatched in May.'"
"I should want to know when the harmonium was hatched," said

Francesca prudently. "Now you cannot usurp the platform entirely,
my dear Pen. Listen to an English marriage notice from the Times.

It chances to be the longest one to-day, but there were others just
as remarkable in yesterday's issue.

"'On the 17th instant, at Emmanuel Church (Countess of Padelford's
connection), Weston-super-Mare, by the Rev. Canon Vernon, B.D.,

Rector of St. Edmund the King and Martyr, Suffolk Street, uncle of
bride, assisted by the Rev. Otho Pelham, M.A., Vicar of All Saints,

Upper Norwood, Dr. Philosophial Konrad Rasch, of Koetzsenbroda,
Saxony, to Evelyn Whitaker Rake, widow of the late Richard Balaclava

Rake, Barrister-at-law of the Inner Temple and Bombay, and third
surviving daughter of George Frederic Goldspink, C.B., of Sydenham

House, Craig Hill, Commissioner of Her Majesty's Customs, and
formerly of the War Office.'"

By the time this was finished we were all quite exhausted, but we
revived like magic when Salemina read us her contribution:-

"'A NAME ENSHRINED IN LITERATURE AND RENOWNED IN COMMERCE,--Miss
Willard, Waddington, Essex. Deal with her whenever you possibly

can. When you want to purchase, ask her for anything under the
canopy of heaven, from jewels, bijouterie, and curios to rare books

and high-class articles of utility. When you want to sell, consign
only to her, from choice gems to mundane objects. All transactions

embodying the germs of small profits are welcome. As a sample of
her stock please note: A superlatively exquisite, essentially

beautiful, and important lace flounce for sale, at a reasonable
price. Also a bargain of peerlessly choice character.--Six grandly

glittering paste cluster buttons, of important size, emitting
dazzling rays of incomparable splendour and lustre. Don't readily

forget this or her name and address,--Clara (Miss) Willard (the Lady
Trader), Waddington, Essex. Immaculate promptitude and scrupulous

liberality observed: therefore, on these credentials, ye must deal
with her; it is the duty of intellect to be reciprocal.'"

Just here Dawson entered, evidently to lay the dinner-cloth, but,
seeing that we had a visitor, he took the tea-tray and retired

discreetly.
"It is five-and-thirty minutes past six, Mr. Beresford," I said.

"Do you think you can get to the Metropole and array yourself and
return in less than an hour? Because, even if you can, remember

that we ladies have elaborate toilets in prospect,--toilets intended
for the complete prostration of the British gentry. Francesca has a

yellow gown which will drive Bertie Godolphin to madness. Salemina
has laid out a soft, dovelike grey and steel combination, directed

towards the Church of England; for you may not know that Sally has a
vicar in her train, Mr. Beresford, and he will probably speak to-

night. As for me-"
Before these shocking personalities were finished Salemina and

Francesca had fled to their rooms, and Mr. Beresford took up my
broken sentence and said, "As for you, Miss Hamilton, whatever gown

you wear, you are sure to make one man speak, if you care about it;
but, I suppose, you would not listen to him unless he were English";

and with that shot he departed.
I really think I shall have to give up the Francesca hypothesis,

and, alas! I am not quite ready to adopt any other.
We discussed international marriages while we were at our toilets,

Salemina and I prinking by the light of one small candle-end, while
Francesca, as the youngest and prettiest, illuminated her charms

with the six sitting-room candles and three filched from the little