ulgar, fat,
pimply, shapeless young woman, attracting universal attention by the
incongruity of her presence in the room. On being greeted by the
graceful lady of the neck and arms, the conviction forced itself upon him
that this could be no other than the once Miss Ramsbotham, plain of face
and indifferent of dress, whose very appearance he had almost forgotten.
On being greeted gushingly as "Reggie" by the sallow-complexioned, over-
dressed young woman he bowed with evident astonishment, and apologised
for a memory that, so he assured the lady, had always been to him a
source of despair.

Of course, he thanked his stars--and Miss Ramsbotham--that the engagement
had never been formal. So far as Mr. Peters was concerned, there was an
end to Mistress Peggy's dream of an existence of everlasting breakfasts
in bed. Leaving the Ramsbotham flat, she returned to the maternal roof,
and there a course of hard work and plain living tended greatly to
improve her figure and complexion; so that in course of time, the gods
smiling again upon her, she married a foreman printer, and passes out of
this story.

Meanwhile, Mr. Reginald Peters--older, and the possessor, perhaps, of
more sense--looked at Miss Ramsbotham with new eyes, and now not
tolerated but desired her. Bohemia waited to assist at the happy
termination of a pretty and somewhat novel romance. Miss Ramsbotham had
shown no sign of being attracted elsewhere. Flattery, compliment, she
continued to welcome; but merely, so it seemed, as favourable criticism.
Suitors more fit and proper were now not lacking, for Miss Ramsbotham,
though a woman less desirable when won, came readily to the thought of
wooing. But to all such she turned a laughing face.

"I like her for it," declared Susan Fossett; "and he has improved--there
was room for it--though I wish it could have been some other. There was
Jack Herring--it would have been so much more suitable. Or even Joe, in
spite of his size. But it's her wedding, not ours; and she will never
care for anyone else."

And Bohemia bought its presents, and had them ready, but never gave them.
A few months later Mr. Reginald Peters returned to Canada, a bachelor.
Miss Ramsbotham expressed her desire for another private interview with
Peter Hope.

"I may as well keep on the Letter to Clorinda," thought Miss Ramsbotham.
"I have got into the knack of it. But I will get you to pay me for it in
the ordinary way."

"I would rather