the ladies, the two stalwart
chair-pushers, whose work, so far as they had been concerned, had been
a sinecure indeed since the attack upon Lossing, and we went at once,
and without stops by the way, to the post-office. But there was no
letter for Miss Jenrys; and, although I looked about me with a
practised eye, followed Miss Jenrys at a safe distance when she
entered the office, and kept the others waiting while I took a last
long look, I could see no signs of the brunette.

Midway Plaisance was almost unknown ground to Miss Ross, and her
wonder, amusement, and quaint comments made her an interesting
companion.

'We must see it all, auntie,' June Jenrys declared, her fair face
glowing with the sweet content with her companion and the moment, that
not even the sorrows of her distant friends, which had weighed so
heavily upon her own kind heart, could for the time overshadow or
abate.

'I shall be guided by my escort,' was the reply of my companion, 'and
I do feel that we may forget our anxieties for a time, and take in all
this strangeness and charm with our whole hearts.'

We did not linger long in the Hall of Beauty, the costumes of many
nations being passed by with scarce a glance. But my companions
lingered longest before the queer little person described in the
catalogue as the 'Display of China,' who was a genuine child of the
Flowery Kingdom, and generally fast asleep.

We turned away from the very wet man in the submarine diving exhibit
with a mutual shiver, and rejoiced anew in the sunlight and free air.

The glass-works, interesting as they assuredly were, we passed by as
being not sufficiently foreign; and the Irish Industrial Village and
Blarney Castle were voted among the things to be taken seriously, and
not in the spirit of Midway. Miss Ross was full of interest in the
little Javanese, and we entered their enclosure, feeling sure that
here, at least, was something novel.

We had peered into the primitive little houses upon their stilt-like
posts, and the ladies had spent some time in watching a quaint little
native mother making efforts to at once ply the queer sticks which
helped her in a strange sort of mat-weaving, and keep an eye upon a
preternaturally solemn-faced infant, who, despite his gravity, seemed
capable of quite as much mischief as the average _enfant terrible_ of
civilization. And then----

'Les go an' see the orang-outang,' exclaimed someone behind us, and as
they went, a sun-b