ere is little danger of any one
venturing to dispute that style with you."

"It's all your own," murmured Sir Walter.

"And very pretty, too," quoth Lawrence Sterne, with a malignant grin.
"Pray sir, what language do you call it?"

Lytton was so enraged at these remarks, and at the favour with which
they appeared to be received, that he endeavoured to stutter out some
reply, and then, losing control of himself completely, picked up all his
loose papers and strode out of the room, dropping pamphlets and speeches
at every step. This incident amused the company so much that they
laughed for several minutes without cessation. Gradually the sound of
their laughter sounded more and more harshly in my ears, the lights
on the table grew dim and the company more misty, until they and their
symposium vanished away altogether. I was sitting before the embers of
what had been a roaring fire, but was now little more than a heap of
grey ashes, and the merry laughter of the august company had changed
to the recriminations of my wife, who was shaking me violently by the
shoulder and exhorting me to choose some more seasonable spot for my
slumbers. So ended the wondrous adventures of Master Cyprian Overbeck
Wells, but I still live in the hopes that in some future dream the great
masters may themselves finish that which they have begun.

JOHN BARRINGTON COWLES.

It might seem rash of me to say that I ascribe the death of my poor
friend, John Barrington Cowles, to any preternatural agency. I am aware
that in the present state of public feeling a chain of evidence would
require to be strong indeed before the possibility of such a conclusion
could be admitted.

I shall therefore merely state the circumstances which led up to this
sad event as concisely and as plainly as I can, and leave every reader
to draw his own deductions. Perhaps there may be some one who can throw
light upon what is dark to me.

I first met Barrington Cowles when I went up to Edinburgh University to
take out medical classes there. My landlady in Northumberland Street
had a large house, and, being a widow without children, she gained a
livelihood by providing accommodation for several students.

Barrington Cowles happened to have taken a bedroom upon the same floor
as mine, and when we came to know each other better we shared a small
sitting-room, in which we took our meals. In this manner we originated
a friendship which was unmarred by the slightest di