once more, in "Hume" and "Green's Short
History of the English People," both of which volumes were close at
hand. For the whole _seance_ might have been an "easy lesson in English
history," with John, Duke of Northumberland, Lady Jane Grey, the Earl of
Leicester, and the famous Elizabeth as its exponents. All these
purported to be with us that evening, and I am bound to say that all
dates and details mentioned, which our middle-aged memories could not
verify at the moment, were in every case corroborated by reference to
the library books later.

It was just before leaving England for Portugal that I first met a lady
(with whom I have since become more intimate), under rather exceptional
circumstances--these latter were unknown to me at the time.

My brother, Colonel C. E. Bates, was living at this time (1901) in rooms
in Cambridge Terrace, and the drawing-room floor was occupied by a Miss
Isabel Smith, who was then only a name to us both. His landlady had
given him to understand that this lady had connections in India, and was
the niece of a General Propert, still on the active list, and an old
friend of my brother's in Indian days.

The last Sunday before starting for Lisbon I called in as usual to spend
the afternoon in Cambridge Terrace, and found that the "drawing-room
lady" had just been paying him a visit, and had left him most
enthusiastic.

This visit surprised me, because my brother, being a very great invalid,
had an inveterate dislike to meeting strangers, with whom he generally
found it difficult to carry on any lengthy conversation. But this
visitor had evidently been an exception. My brother expressed some
regret that I should have missed seeing her, so to please him I
suggested sending his valet upstairs with his compliments, and asking if
I might pay the lady a short visit, should she be disengaged.

She came downstairs kindly, a second time, and we had a pleasant chat,
whilst my brother and an old Indian brother officer carried on their
conversation.

I left England a few days later, and scarcely expected to see or hear
any more of Miss Isabel Smith. Fate, however, ordained otherwise. Some
weeks elapsed, and then I received a letter from my brother, mentioning
the curious circumstances that, he had just heard, had led to his making
the acquaintance of this pleasant neighbour. "It is too long a story to
write," he concluded, "but I will tell you all about it next time we
meet."

He did so, and