distinctly in favour of Mallow as a suitor for her darling Olive, and was enraged at the mere thought of her friend being handed over, with fifty thousand pounds, to an unknown suitor from the back of beyond. Therefore she was glad to see him, and she hoped that he would rescue Olive from the Indian dragon as a true knight should; for Olive was very wretched and very tearful, and had been so ever since the departure of Mr. Dimbal.

"Poor dear!" sighed Miss Ostergaard, thinking of her friend.

"That is me, isn't it?" asked the artful Aldean.

"You?" said the lady, snipping vigorously--"as if I was thinking of you, Lord Aldean. Oh, you men, you men!--and they say that women are vain!"

"You have something to be vain about," said Aldean, seeing his way to a compliment.

"I have, indeed--with you. No, I was thinking of Olive. You know that she is going to be married?"

Aldean cast a commiserating look at his friend, who was still being assailed with Babylonic information by Miss Slarge, and nodded.

"But she may not marry the chap after all, you know?"

"Oh yes, she will. Mr. Carson is coming down here in three days, and Olive has fully made up her mind to accept him. I am so enraged," cried Tui, "that I could (snip) cut his (snip) head off (snip, snip)."

"She has never seen Carson, has she?"

"No; that's the worst of it. Fancy marrying a veiled prophet--a Mokanna!"

"Never heard of the Johnny, Miss Ostergaard. Who is he?"

"He is a fable, Lord Aldean."

"Pity this Carson man isn't," said his lordship, with a grin.

"I wish he were," sighed Tui, walking towards the house. "I am sure he is a beast--a beast with a big, big B!"

"Who deserves a big, big D!" cried Aldean, emphatically. "Oh, what a beast!"

"Are you talking of the beast from the Persian Gulf," cried Miss Slarge, who, having pulverized Mallow, had glided behind them; "the beast who taught the Babylonians arts and sciences?"

"This beast comes from India," said Aldean, smiling at Tui, and with a 

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