gh to accuse me of
pitying her because I cannot be the knight to release her;
but I cannot but think how happy she would be at Stalham,
struggling to beat you and Mr. Ponsonby at lawn tennis,
and then risking a cropper when the happy days of November
should come round.--Your loving cousin,

J. S.

COLONEL STUBBS TO THE MARCHESA BALDONI.

MY DEAR AUNT,

Your letter is worthy of the Queen of Sheba, if, as was no
doubt the case, she corresponded with King Solomon. As for
Ayala's fate, if it be her fate to live with Mrs. Dosett,
she can only submit to it. You cannot carry her over to
Italy, nor would the Marchese allow her to divide his
Italian good things with Nina. Poor little bird! She had
her chance of living amidst diamonds and bank-notes, with
the Tringle millionaires, but threw it away after some
fashion that I do not understand. No doubt she was a fool,
but I cannot but like her the better for it. I hardly
think that a fortnight at Stalham, with all Sir Harry's
luxuries around her, would do her much service.

As for myself and the top of my table, and the future
companion who is to be doomed to listen to my military
lucubrations, I am altogether inclined to agree with you,
seeing that you write in a pure spirit of worldly good
sense. No doubt the Queen of Sheba gave advice of the
same sort to King Solomon. I never knew a woman to speak
confidentially of matrimony otherwise than as a matter of
pounds, shillings, and pence. In counsels so given, no
word of love has ever been known to creep in. Why should
it, seeing that love cannot put a leg of mutton into the
pot? Don't imagine that I say this in a spirit either of
censure or satire. Your ideas are my own, and should I
ever marry I shall do so in strict accordance with your
tenets, thinking altogether of the weekly accounts, and
determined to eschew any sitting by the sides of brooks.

I have told Nina about my plans. I will be at Stalham in
November to see that she does not break her neck.--Yours
always,

J. S.

CHAPTER XXI.

AYALA'S INDIGNATION.

Perhaps Mrs. Dosett had some just cause for refusing her sanction for
the proposed visit to Albury. If Fate did require that Ayala should
live permanently in Kingsbury Crescent, the gaiety of a very gay
house, and the wealth of a very wealthy house, would hardly be good
preparati