she would have asked any one to " Come
live with me and be my love."

There are some characters " drifting"
about this world, sometimes being " kicked
about," which are mere fragments, each
with the serried outline of a fracture. By
some rare chance, both come together one
day, and fit to a nicety in one piece. Had
these two, Conway and Jessica, thus joined
unexpectedly, and did both know it?

"You were angry with me," he said,
deferentially, " and I have come to beg
pardon. I did two things which fretted
you; I wanted respect to your father, and
praised up that rich woman who is as
distasteful to me as she is to yon."

Jessica smiled and put out her hand.
"Indeed I am not angry, and I am not
ashamed of myself. My father says I
disgrace him everywhere, and that I am
pettish."

"You must let me see you, then, under
better auspices," said Conway, gravely.
"Otherwise I may run the risk of taking
away an unfavourable impression."

"Indeed!" said Jessica, scornful again.
"And that is your gracious pleasure. Then
I tell you candidly, Mr. Conway, I am not
sorry, and I do not think it good taste to
sneer at a gentleman at his own table, and
before others. Now!"

Conway coloured, and was angry. He
had quite mistaken this young lady.

"You are too severe for me," he said,
"and really beat me to the ground."

She made no answer, and swept out
just as the doctor and the German entered.
The doctor blew and phewed, and muttered
"Oh, unbearable! such behaviour!" but
the young lady did not return. Before the
two gentlemen drove away it was arranged
that the doctor and his family
should come and see the Almandine, and
take the opportunity of there being
fireworks on the following nights, when a
little supper could be "knocked up."

"Oh, I shall come, certainly," the doctor
said, eagerly. " So glad to know you are
better. We have all heard of his lordship,
your good father, and I will take the liberty
of asking you to mention that you have
seen me, the vicar of St. Arthur's. He
will recollect a little correspondence we had
two years ago. A finer, nobler character
does not exist in this broad England of
ours."

Conway seemed to convey surprise at
this large statement. " My father is a

most excellent man," he said, in his quiet
way; " I shall give him your message."

"Do, do, my dear Mr. Conway," the
doctor went on, as though he were
preaching. " He will know me. I wanted him
to take the chair for us down here for The
Disabled Yachtsmen. He was busy, I
suppose, so we got Lord Rufus Cocker. Good-
bye— good-bye. "

Wine at lunch was like kindling the
furnace fires for the doctor, so all the
cranks and machinery were working, the
steam blowing oft ,and all the oils oozing
out.

"We shall write formally to the ladies,"
said Conway " and you can tell them. In
the meantime——"

"Oh, she never goes," the doctor said,
waving off his wife, " that sort of thing
don't suit her. And, as for Jessica—if you
wish——"

"Oh, but my good sir," said Conway,
decisively, " this must be understood. The
rule of the Yacht is to admit no single
gentlemen on these gala occasions. I assure
you she is inflexible in that."

This seemed like bantering, but there
was a blunt and malicious decision about
Conway's manner that told the doctor that
the Yacht might not be "at home" for
him if he came alone.

Now Ready,
THE EXTRA CHRISTMAS NUMBERS
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