cause. Your best friends are the men who deplore those
suspicions; who beg you, as I do here, to get them swept away as being
unworthy of a great nation and a great alliance.

"For this end, Believe me, dear Madame, to be at your service as always,

"PUNCH."

_Here ends the letter._]

"And now, dear lady," said Mr. Punch, "let me say that, if there is
anything in this letter which seems--but only on the surface--to be
inconsistent with my profound devotion to your person, it is the first word
of the kind that I have put on paper since our friendship began. All
through the War and the hardly less trying times of Peace that have
followed it I have not once swerved from my loyalty to you. Accept, I beg
of you, the renewed assurance of my affection the most sincere, and, for
token, this latest of a series in which you will find many proofs of the
love I bear you--my

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHTH VOLUME."

[Illustration]

* * * * *

[Illustration: INDEX]

CARTOONS.

PARTRIDGE, BERNARD
Air-Craftiness, 471
Another Reservation, 111
Blameless Accomplice (The), 511
Dark Horse (A), 431
Exit the Ministering Angel, 371
Forgotten Cause (The), 211
Great Improviser (The), 451
His First Patient, 491
Homage from the Brave, 391
Hope of the World (The), 271
In a Cushy Cause, 331
International Eurhythmics, 151
Kindest Cut of All (The), 191
Levy on Patriotism (A), 291
Limit--and Beyond (The), 411
Occasional Comrades, 251
Reckoning (The), 351
Restoring the Balance, 311
Return of the ex-Champion (The), 171
Rouge Gagne, 71
Test of Sagacity (A), 131
Unpopular Revival (An), 231
Woman of Some Importance (A), 91

RAVEN-HILL, L.
Conscientious Burglar (The), 103
Converted Spirit (A), 183
Dachswolf (The), 243
Direct Reaction, 463
Disturber of the Peace (A), 323
Downing Street Melodrama (A), 83
Elusive Pest (The), 163
Even-handed Justice, 51
Expert Opinion, 363
From Triumph to Triumph, 343
Heir-Presumptive (The), 31
His Own Business, 403
Irremovables (The), 143
Lovers' Quarrels, 303
Midsummer Nightmare (A), 483
More Haste--Less Meat, 443
New Coalition (The), 123
Paradise Lost Again?, 503
Popular Reappearance (A), 63
Reluctant Thruster (The), 383
St. Patrick's Day Dream (A), 203
Sounding the "All Clea