d the same
fate."

From that hour the Jilted Club was formed, and as time went on its
membership increased. The mysterious title of Detlij Club was agreed on,
and, at the time of writing, its adherents numbered some seventy
_habitues_ of London Society.

The Major was elected President; Tommy held the honourable and lucrative
post of Secretary, and a code of rules, of which we quote the principal,
was drawn up:

1. This Club shall be called the Detlij Club.
2. None but jilted men shall be eligible to become members.
3. The objects of the Club shall be:

(_a_). To extend shelter and sympathy in their calamity to all
members whose affections have been trifled with.
(_b_). To assist them in their schemes of vengeance.
(_c_). To encourage them to jilt others in return.

4. Each member shall be required to take the oath of secrecy.
5. A gold badge shall be voted annually to that member who shall
prove to the satisfaction of the Committee that he has made
the highest record in broken hearts.
6. The badge of the Club shall be a heart rent in twain.

There were a great many other rules, but they are of minor importance
relative to this narrative.

When Tommy announced at the first general meeting that he wished to
propose Villiers Wyckliffe as a member, the announcement was greeted
with loud cheers, for that gentleman was a man of town notoriety,
popular with all sections of Society, but especially so in the boudoirs.
He was immensely wealthy, having inherited a vast fortune from his
father, the celebrated Seymour Wyckliffe, the world-wide known head of
the great banking firm of Wyckliffe & Co. Having joined he soon let it
be known that he intended making strong running for the coveted gold
badge. He was generally known and addressed as "Wyck."

The fifteenth of July, when the season was well on the wane, was the
date fixed on which the first competition for the badge was to be held.

Great preparations were made for a banquet at the Club, on the most
lavish and extensive scale.

The dinner over, the President, Major Fitzgerald, formally opened
proceedings; and, alluding in felicitous terms to the momentous
occasion, announced, amid cheers, that there were no less than nineteen
competitors for the badge, who, their names having been drawn from a
hat, were to address the meeting in the following order:--

1. Villiers Wyck