the three young ladies, she took very kindly to
Mr. Drax, and, coming toddling towards him,
essayed to climb upon his knees, stretching
forward one of her plump little hands as though
she desired to touch his discreet and mystic
neckcloth.

"Ah!" smiled Mr. Drax, as he lifted her up
and imprinted a discreet kiss on her forehead,
just at the roots of her hair.  "She won't be
so very fond of me when she has taken half the
nasty things I shall be obliged to give her.  Poor
little thing!  I wonder whether she's had the
measles?"

He leaned back in his chair and regarded her
in fond anticipation, as though mildly gloating
over a subject who was to conduce to the
enlargement of his professional experience, and in
the increase of his quarterly bills.  His reverie
was put an end to by the arrival of Pepper,
who, like a good-natured woman as she was,
had in a few moments stroked Lily's brown
curls, kissed her on both cheeks, chucked her
under the chin, hoisted her up in her arms, and
told her half a merry story about a little girl who
was always ready to go to bed, and was, in
consequence, much beloved by all the angels.

"This is Miss Floris, Miss Lily Floris,
Pepper,"  Mrs. Bunnycastle remarked, with
calm dignity.  "Her papa, who is going abroad,
was obliged to bring her very late.  What beds
are there vacant, Pepper?"

"There's number two, in the first room,
mum," answered the domestic.

"Among the elder girls,"  interposed
Adelaide; "that would never do.  They never go
to sleep until daybreak, I do believe, and they'd
question her out of her life before breakfast-
time.  And Mamselle, though it's her duty not
to allow them to talk, is just as bad as they
are."

"There's five and nine in the second room;
but there's no mattress on five; and as for nine,
you know, mum—"

"Well, what do we know?" asked Miss Celia,
sharply.

"It's the bed Miss Kitty died in," Pepper
returned, with an effort.

There was a prejudice in Rhododendron
House against sleeping in the bed that Kitty
had died in.

"Stuff and nonsense!" cried Mrs.
Bunnycastle.

"Well, where are we to put her?" Adelaide
asked, impatiently.  "We can't keep the child
up all night."

Lily looked remarkably wide awake, and as
though she intended to remain so.  She was
playing with the ribbons in Pepper's cap, and
apparently would not have had the slightest
objection to the continuance of that amusement
until cockcrow.  As for Mr. Drax, his discretion
stood him in good stead during this essentially
domestic conversation, and he feigned to be
immersed in the perusal of a volume of the
Missionary Magazine for 1829.

"Well, if you please, mum," Pepper ventured
to represent, "I think that as the dear little
girl's so young, and so tired, and so strange,
I'd better take her to bed with me, mum, and
then, to-morrow, you know, mum, you can see
about it."

The ladies were graciously pleased to accept
this suggestion, and it was agreed to nem. con.
And then—it being now fully half-after eleven
o'clock—Lily and her new guardian disappeared,
and the discreet Mr. Drax took his leave,
promising to call in on the morrow afternoon, in
case his advice should be needed.

"A very nice girl is Barbara Bunnycastle,"
said Mr. Drax, softly to himself, as he walked
home to College-street.  "A very nice girl,
and one who would make any man's home
happy."

Both Adelaide and Barbara dreamed of Mr.
Drax.

"MAKING TEA"  IN INDIA.

THE journey from Calcutta to the tea-growing
districts of Assam and Cachar, during the dry
weather, necessitates a visit to the Soonderbunds
—an enormous tract of desolate jungle, stretching
from the river Hooghly, on the western side
of the Bay of Bengal, to Chittagong, on the east,
a distance of upwards of two hundred miles
across, and intersected with innumerable narrow
streams, the various outlets of the Ganges. This
dreary waste of country is the sole and
undisputed property of tigers, leopards, and other
wild beasts, and is only visited occasionally by
a class of natives calling themselves "wood-
cutters," who constantly fall victims to these
animals.

While steering through these narrow rivulets,
herds of deer feeding on the edges of the jungle
attracted our attention, the more so as they
allowed us to get quite close to them before
condescending to take the slightest notice of our
steamer.  Had we been disposed, we might have
shot any number of them, but it being
considered unadvisable to stop the course of the
vessel, we had sufficient humanity to leave them
in peace.  We were by no means sorry when
we steamed clear of this desolate region, and
anchored on the fifth day at Koolneah, the first
coaling depôt after leaving Calcutta. The afternoon
of the ninth day brought us to Dacca, and
here we bade farewell to our steamer, the vessel
being ordered to return, and we being instructed
to shift for ourselves as we best could until
another arrived to take us on to Cachar.

I was not long before I found myself comfortably
housed.  A letter of introduction in England
means a little civility when you deliver your
credentials, or, at most, an invitation to dinner, while
in India it signifies board, lodging, and every
comfort and attention that it is possible to offer. I
have reason to speak favourably of Indian
hospitality, for I was detained at Dacca upwards of
three weeks, and during the whole of that period
was entertained by people whom I had never seen
before in my life.  Much has been written and
said concerning the arrogance of Indian officials,