ead,
but lay them down on platforms in the open air. Rose was picked up there
by her lover (accompanied by a chaperon, of course), was got on board the
steam yacht, and all went well. I forget what happened to "The Whiteley
of Crime." After him I still rather hanker--he was a humorous ruffian.
Something could be made of "The Whiteley of Crime." Something _has_ been
made, by the author of "Sherlock Holmes."

In yet another romance, a gentleman takes his friend, in a country place,
to see his betrothed. The friend, who had only come into the
neighbourhood that day, is found dead, next morning, hanging to a tree.
Gipsies and others are suspected. But the lover was the murderer. He
had been a priest, in South America, and the lady was a Catholic (who
knew not of his Orders). Now the friend fell in love with the lady at
first sight, on being introduced to her by the lover. As the two men
walked home, the friend threatened to reveal the lover's secret--his
tonsure--which would be fatal to his hopes. They quarrelled, parted, and
the ex-priest lassoed his friend. The motive, I think, is an original
one, and not likely to occur to the first comer. The inventor is open to
offers.

The next novel, based on a dream, was called "In Search of Qrart."

What is _Qrart_? I decline to divulge this secret beyond saying that
_Qrart_ was a product of the civilisation which now sleeps under the
snows of the pole. It was an article of the utmost value to humanity.
Farther I do not intend to commit myself. The Bride of a God was one of
the characters.

The next novel is, at present, my favourite cigarette. The scene is
partly in Greece, partly at the Parthian Court, about 80-60 B.C. Crassus
is the villain. The heroine was an actress in one of the wandering Greek
companies, splendid strollers, who played at the Indian and Asiatic
Courts. The story ends with the representation of the "Bacchae," in
Parthia. The head of Pentheus is carried by one of the Bacchae in that
drama. Behold, it is not a mask, but _the head of Crassus_, and thus
conveys the first news of the Roman defeat. Obviously, this is a novel
that needs a great deal of preliminary study, as much, indeed, as
"Salammbo."

Another story will deal with the Icelandic discoverers of America. Mr.
Kipling, however, has taken the wind out of its sails with his sketch,
"The Finest Story in the World." There are all the marvels and portents
of the _Eyrbyggja Saga_