tly intervened.

"Excuse me, young lady," he said suavely, "but visitors are requested not
to feed the Living Skeleton. Living Skeletons are very delicately
organised, madame," he continued, addressing the teacher. "A dry biscuit
has been known to throw them into violent dyspepsia and they have died of
a rump steak."

Bonypart groaned audibly and recovering himself, made another effort to
smile, but failed, and sighed hungrily, whereat the younger pupil broke
into a dismal wail, and had to be taken out and soothed with lemonade.

The fine collection of natural curiosities, illustrating the descent of
man, was reserved for the last, and Professor Thunder proudly arrayed his
company before the cages containing the tiny apes, the middling-sized
gibbons, the baboon, Ammonia, the gorilla, and Mahdi, the man-monkey, or
Missing Link.

The young ladies were quite enthusiastic in their admiration. They fed
the Missing Link with spongecake and nuts, which he took from their hands
and ate with a certain genteel decorum. His manner of cracking the nuts
was much appreciated. Nickie was a specialist at nut-cracking, having
made a special study of the subject at the Zoo.

Some of the girls said he was a "regular dear," and threw him flowers,
and frosty Miss Arnott relaxed her elbows a trifle, and admitted that
this quaint creature was indeed entertaining and instructive--most
instructive. She had never met a more instructive creature. And meanwhile
Ammonia the gorilla shook the dividing bars, and reached fierce claws
towards Mahdi, convulsed with jealousy, and inspired with a primitive
yearning for nuts.

Professor Thunder spread himself in the delivery of his learned oration
on the origin of the human race, beginning with Spider, and ranging up to
the wondrous Missing Link. "Captured by my own hand in the jungles of
Central Africa, ladies," said he, with fine dramatic elocution and the
attitudes of a leading man.

"You will observe that the creature is kept in semi-darkness, that is
because he is accustomed to the thick shades of his native forests. He is
very docile, excepting when attacked or irritated"--(descriptive growls
from the Missing Link)--"when he displays extraordinary activity in
pursuit of his foes"--(display of extraordinary activity by Madhi,
swinging on the bar, racing round the cage, roaring, &c.). "He is very
human in his appearance, as you will observe, and is much more upright in
his carriage than the gor