nor have I heard from them since. Certain of my
fellow-boarders, on hearing the matter, declared that I had been diddled
by a bamboozle-trick; but it is egregiously absurd that my puissance in
knowledge of the world should have been so much at fault; and, moreover,
why should one who had succeeded to vast riches seek to rob me of my
paltry possessions? It is much more probable that they are still
diligently seeking for me, having omitted, owing to hurry of moment, to
ascertain my name and address; and I hereby request Mr TOMKINS, on
reading this, to forward the thousand pounds (or so much thereof as in
his munificent generosity he may deem sufficient) to me at Porticobello
House, Ladbroke Grove, W., or care of his friend, the Editor of _Punch_,
by whom it will (I am sure) be honourably handed over intact.

Nor need Mr TOMKINS fear my reproaches for his dilatoriness, for there
is a somewhat musty proverb that "Procrastination is preferable to
Neverness."

VIII

_How Mr Jabberjee delivered an Oration at a Ladies' Debating Club._

Miss SPINK (whom I have mentioned _supra_ as a feminine inmate of
Porticobello House) is _in additum_ a member of a Debating Female
Society, which assembles once a week in various private Westbourne Grove
parlours, for argumentative intercourse.

So, she expressing an anxious desire that I should attend one of these
conclaves, I consented, on ascertaining that I should be afforded the
opportunity of parading the gab with which I have been gifted in an
extemporised allocution.

On the appointed evening I directed my steps, under the guidance of the
said Miss SPINK, to a certain imposing stucco residence hard by, wherein
were an assortment of female women conversing with vivacious garrulity,
in a delicious atmosphere of tea, coffee, and buttered bread.

[Illustration: "A WEEDY, TALL MALE GENTLEMAN."]

After having partaken freely of these comestibles, we made the
adjournment to a luxuriously upholstered parlour, circled with
plush-seated chairs and adorned with countless mirrors, and there we
began to beg the question at issue, to-whit, "_To what extent has Ibsen
(if any) contributed towards the cause of Female Emancipation?_"
which was opened by a weedy, tall male gentleman, with a lofty and a
shining forehead, and round, owlish spectacle-glasses. He read a very
voluminous paper, from which I learnt that IBSEN was the writer of
innumerable new-fangled dramas of very problematical