ain.

"`It's not a comfortable thing to happen,' said he, `and what I want to
propose is that one or two of you should stay late for a night or two
and see if you can find out how it occurs. There are one or two events
coming off during the next few days about which we expect special
communications, so that very likely whoever it is may try again. You
must be very careful, and I shall have to leave you to use your
discretion, for I'm so busy with the new Literary Supplement that I
cannot stay myself.'

"Well, when he'd gone we had a consultation, and of course it ended in
Waterford and me determining to sit up. Poor Booms's heart would break
if he couldn't go `on the mash' as usual; and though he tried to seem
very much hurt that he was not to stay, we could see he was greatly
relieved. Waterford and I were rather glad, as it happened, for we'd
some work on hand it just suited us to get a quiet evening for.

"So I wrote a note to Miss Crisp. Don't get excited, old man; she's a
very nice girl, but she's another's. [By the way, Jemima asks after you
every time I meet her, which is once a week now; she's invited herself
into our shorthand class.] And after helping to rig old Booms up to the
ninety-nines, which wasn't easy work, for his `dicky' kept twisting
round to the side of his neck, and we had to pin it in three places
before it would keep steady, I gave him the note and asked him would he
ever be so kind as to take it round for me, as it was to ask Miss Crisp
if she would go and keep my mother company during my absence.

"After that I thought we should never get rid of him. He insisted on
overhauling every article of his toilet. At least four more pins were
added to fix the restless dicky in its place on his manly breast. We
polished up his eye-glasses with wash-leather till the pewter nearly all
rubbed off; we helped him roll his flannel shirt-sleeves up to the
elbows for fear--horrible idea!--they should chance to peep out from
below his cuffs; we devoted an anxious two minutes to the poising of his
hat at the right angle, and then passed him affectionately from one to
the other to see he was all right. After which he went off, holding my
letter carefully in his scented handkerchief and saying--dear gay
deceiver!--that he envied us spending a cosy evening in that snug office
by the fire!

"The work Waterford and I have on hand is--tell it not in Gath, old man,
and don't scorn a fellow off the face of