r; all its advantages would have vanished with open
acknowledgment of its necessity. These arrangements were instinctive
on the part of both, and each credited the other with a mole-like
blindness to their existence.

For instance, each was graciously pleased to believe--or, at least, to
believe that the other believed--in a certain institution that called
for a vast amount of checking of totals, comparisons of counterfoils,
inspection of certificates, verification of data--everything, in
short, of which an institute is capable that could make incessant
correspondence necessary and frequent personal interviews advisable.
It could boast of Heaven knows how many titled Patrons and
Patronesses, Committees and Sub-committees, Referees and Auditors.
No doubt the mere mention of such an institution was enough to
render gossip speechless about any single lady and gentleman whom it
accidentally made known one to another. Its firm of Solicitors alone,
with a line all to itself in its prospectuses, was enough to put a
host of Loves to flight.

On which account Ann, at Krakatoa Villa, when she announced, "A person
for you, Miss Sally," was able to add, "from Dr. Vereker, I think,
miss," without the faintest shade of humorous reserve, as of one who
sees, and does not need to be told.

And when Sally had interviewed a hopeless and lopsided female, who
appeared to be precariously held together by pins, and to have an
almost superhuman power of evading practical issues, she (fortified
by this institution) was able to return to the drawing-room and say,
without a particle of shame, that she supposed she should have to go
and see Old Prosy about Mrs. Shoosmith to-morrow afternoon. And when
she called at the doctor's at teatime--because that didn't take him
from his patients, as he made a point of his tea, because of his
mother, if it was only ten minutes--both he and she believed
religiously in Mrs. Shoosmith, and Dr. Vereker filled out her form
(we believe we have the phrase right) with the most business-like
gravity at the little table where he wrote his letters.

Mrs. Shoosmith's form called for filling out in more senses than one.
The doctor's mother's form would not have borne anything further in
that direction; except, indeed, she had been provided with hooks to
go over her chair back, and keep her from rolling along the floor,
as a sphere might if asked to sit down.

A suggestion of the exceptional character of all visits f