know."

"Generous!" echoed Mrs. Shafto. "The greatest old skinflint in
London--she charges me sixpence a day for having my breakfast in bed,
and----"

"Well, you will soon be out of it," interrupted her son impetuously,
"and so shall I! And I am glad to have an opportunity now of telling
you that I have got promotion in the office and am going to Burma."

"Oh! are you? Burma--Burma! Why, that's abroad--some place near
India--or is it the West Indies?"

"You are thinking of Bermuda. Burma is east of India. I have to pay
for my passage and outfit, and this unexpected windfall is a wonderful
bit of luck. If I hadn't got it, I never could have accepted the post,
or made a new start."

"And when do you leave?"'

"In a week."

"So soon," she exclaimed cheerfully; "I wonder what Cossie will say?"

"It is not of the slightest consequence what Cossie says; she has
nothing to do with my plans."

"Cossie won't think so, and when she hears you have been promoted and
are off to Burma, she will stick to you like a burr."

"But, my dear mother, what is the use of her sticking to me?" protested
Douglas. "I haven't the faintest intention of being engaged to Cossie.
If she imagines that I am in love with her, she is making the greatest
mistake in her life."

"Cossie is a foolish girl," admitted her aunt, "and has made heaps of
mistakes; but if she sees her way to bettering herself, she can be as
determined as anyone. Of course you will have to run down and say
'good-bye.'"

"Yes, I shall go to-morrow."

"I must say I don't envy you the visit!" declared his mother with a
malicious smile.

"No, I daresay it will be disagreeable--but Aunt Emma will see me
through. In Cossie's case it is not a matter of deep attachment; she
only wants to play me off against that fellow Soames. Ah, here is
Michael jingling his tray outside; he wants to lay the cloth and we had
better clear."

In some respects the dreaded farewell at "Monte Carlo" was even more
trying than Douglas had anticipated. His relatives had learned and
digested his news; to them, it seemed an uplifting of the entire
connection. After pushing congratulations and some high-flown talk
respecting the delights of his future career and "position," the girls,
as if by mutual agreement, rose and left him alone with their mother.

Thus abandoned to a _tete-a-tete_, after a lengthy silence, Mrs.
Larcher, sitting among the collapsible spring's, began to speak i