PART I

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7005, 22 January 1901, Page 4

PART I

"How*%a_ily^you corv»,' , f___d^ {feasor ImtablyA' * Tishy a_v?-vy_ gives me -just wbstt I ilke.-H A._iUlafat T If yon (nte-BeV" ■ %•' "*• -■ . "It is wo__en'-_ike%'l__-iyr whcMspoi_^_DoDi [like you," saidDa___atoheat«l_,_-icingoffa [big piece of suet, that the Professor, injstead of t_«-___f_lly wceiving^ o_te__tai_o_s_y [placed, -on _he^«_ie of hia plate* "And jwhat's more. I mean to make yoa so jjoHy uncO-D-ortab-e ttuat 4 you^v>valae •more -.ban you idoas come dewra." ] "Tishy is very seedy to-day>' , *_he*_aid! laZoud, watehing iham intently^ a_r one may <a fish in a glass bottle, not quite eure if jits visible breathing is due to lungs only, ax if there ia also concealed somewhere a heart. Dahlia did not think herself cr# fa th-g, or compel-. stich purely scientific <exCU__k-» with the «_^pe__mettts ho made oi. b-i wife's nerves. : " She told me she was __A_cb better when I saw her this rooilring," he said, looking -O-gbagly at the closed book beside his •plate. He always read at table when only li:s wife was there ; but DaWia's eyes made gimlets through the binding, and burned turn. v "Doin't you get sick of that everiastjing grind?" she said,, and! the poor man jju-oped^ often she would be twice round Ithe world; and back again before he had Ibeett able to take in the gist of %er last fremark. • "A gi_nd?'^he^__a_^^i^oig_d*y<-'*Tou Jcall thxags by very strange names." '■ "By the right ones," said Dahlia. «*lfs Ji oonoeited man who thinks he can aaead know every-hdng. By the time Ihe _ias got toidmow his ow_t Ettle corner of khe dust-bin. and swep. up its dust, he-has tot to go." , For a moment the prof*-SO_!sr-y«_-*_w*i_-' fed on her in genuine -pity. : "Poor ehik_," he saad. "You know hofhifig of the joys of science— obercher en jgBB-issant— that was Pascal's notian of nrajse^ror-bsy living and' choosing _he betper part." : " dh ! sigh* away,'* she-cried 1 i__pat_e_d_yv f'tot don't make Tishy sigh also." . "I think st is John __or_By who says gat everybody endowed witih energetic telligefaoehas ai-mea_nrerof spirit^ sesccchi jpoufed out upon hiiof' oo___-n_ed the Pro-1 lessor. "All snchi peasoaw act on. the Soicratio toaxim, that the life with<mt«nquiry fs a life to be lived by -nanaz-,'' ' • "J____ctily," said Dahlftu , « p l_-^uirjr'-_nto j_he tistes, ___od, and heat* of ijhe one penison who has chosen you on* of the whole fcrorfc. to constitute her __e-__ngi happiness fer _a_ery. TMry calls at _he Icall .t a starved and broken heart." - "Dahlia!" cried the Professor, __-lf_isin indignation fron. bis chair. They (always waited on the__selves at binriheon, tod there were so -ervaz-ts in tho _oom. The Professor was an inept, whiteyjbrowny man, who suggested a pai^er parcel {ttksKb could not muster a bit of string with !whdch to tie itself neatly up. One side of Ids ioa_ly hand_o_o» mOtßtache ■«__• up, and jthe other down; a long lock of Wiry hair, parted on one side to. fnadequaitely cover a partaally bald lead, deolmed to be moored to a iqmt where it had not originally sprouted, land meandered in maiden xoeditation fancyfree down his back. A few of his buttons t %ere fastened, some were not* bis clothes looked as though he luid slept ir_-them more j-h^w the regulation, seven days, whale the Ideal- linen upon which Tislry; insisted, protested loudly against all the-sfcvenly rest of —dm. ■ "It's true," said DabMa^, lecklesßly daibjbing toUstarß on bar plate. She had never (before spoken out Iter real _oftnd to him on, tbis behaviour *o> her sister, awd now she [meant to do it thorough^. "She maxried you for iove. (JWb.) You weren't rich, or -amous, or har_dsome. (Dab.) But she tbougbt you ciewr, a__i she loved you. (Dab.) Shewas»«weetlyrpretlygM,4hen •bs is a sad-faced woman, now. (Dab.) Tishy 5s affectfenate ; that's her _ffl__ortu_.e. Sjio you give ber otmipa__onship, comprehen!aioD, Do you ever pay' her, or jber frocks, a/comp_anent? buy her a bunch wf flowers, or give her any one of the things \Qmi money won't buy, yet that the two {poorest lovers alive can oo__ma_od at will, jajOd that ate the only things a tame- -woman; j&___s worth having?" : By ftas tSme a perfect circle of mustard knot-feds entrenched her roast beef, and now be. tears suddenly splashed down, and IcontttTtrated their salt to .the dish. "Tishy (never con-plains to me," said the professor, rather iteemulously. (Behind the psih'a wriggle was there, indeed, a _ud_pnant_ry heart?) <b Of course, I don% know fwhat she says to y«u." . " Oh ! don't youJanow her?" cried (Dahlia, Wtiy; "could yoo. have dzxfted) into such jus awful state of selfishness as you have jdooie 'if she had complained, or ever let Jethers see you as you are? She is wise, she knows the world doesn't want to know the irights and wrongs of unhappily married the one thing at which) "Tishy's jflesb and soul rebelled was pity. If she had (muffed her life, she could bear everything |but that the world should know at ; and do |»_ not evetry day see wives bragging loudly over their bad pennies, and swearing that ph»y are pure gold?" The Professor pushed away his plate, and is. little colour came into his cheeks, smooth __ke vefium, as many faces habitually unj__pO_ed to the weather are, and a-most the ico-our of parchment. He was trying to lift ihis mind 1 out of the deep rot of (habit, to see tus attitude toward Tishy from the outside, <•_ it appeared to Dahlia and to others. He pad deemed to himself a very kind and lenitetot husband ; he had never interfered with -_ter ; she had been free to come and go, to tto as she liked. " Women are very unreasonable," he said. !"T_tey go out when tfhey like; they are <fcß__p}-b. nasttesaes of their own time as bardly amy man everis y -and yet they are hot to-is-ted." " time "-^said Dahlia, bitlterly, who had |_S0 eateh no -uncheon, having, as often, Been bu-X-ed by impulse into doing the right thing a. the wrong season — " time, in more than one, is not for women. Whetttoe are W-etched, the less time we have for j-ookx-g into our owm (hearts the better. f_ishy doesn't seen, to me to want to get ; The Professor, instead of pushing his tpttt-cles back to the middle-of his forehead, koOk Ibfett. off, and Dahlia's anger against P__a Abated. After all, it -is a person's manjners that e-trahge or attract you, hot his (vices ot his virtues ; forthe one we>see, the jbtbeTS we take on trust. ■ "What inakes you say that?" he said, kb-Uptiy. "Is the doctor xaßeasy about Iher? M there is any fearof broxwhitis, aMnustard l^tice-r---'' - "She wants the love of a inanly breast," (paid Dahlia, a_D_ost under her breath, " but Jtiw-l Jiever ask for it ; and she's quite right ; jut agzress-Ve woman ought to be banged. mob there wa_ a t_ate, Profe-sor," she went (on wistfully, "when you were not a pale, too-d abstraction walled up in a tower of inlenoe — out bf touch with human; needs, uaman sympatby. It seems to me that ■cience xnakes you either very human- or very ptta-mah. To learn hutoomty you must go jout into the poor quarter and see Ww men t-uffer and fight. .Yet* they do help one |u-_ther." » : " This is the first tune I have-been accused (of un_ri_udnesß *o my fellow creatures,'' he paid resentfully! L/'-A-wi is not selfishness .cruel?" said Pahba, sadly. "Perhaps oner of the worst forma of it ia when you never; (pass a thing gi, when you make no one a«harer in your Measures? Just to be _dnd—4o pass it on— gow bright a crowd would he if each unit gpessed itself in its very brightest and 'best. jlou are always aocn_ai_lat_ng knowledge, pud knowledge is power, but do you pour it out in a living -stream with which to gladden sthers— say even Tishy and me? We are p>th bright women, and we would learn of .ou gladly if you would let us. And) she tauld like to sit beside you sometimes at work, and think that she •helped', did! pXhirAe^ycni*

plio-_» Sk. Vwotoato's iife^f the 4oe. not ! -ho-tea ithen. fey getting into*; _____hief . ; 3>oe»_b never sfcr_kß yotf^bow «tto_ctive Tliehy is? _J_*-__w is jti-frdn&O- those un-Be-fiau, women to whom _aex.<of _c_at-o-__tel-ieot axe eeemingly gtrided by that special Prorid&cß which WBctoes ov_t*c_k-ldrai- and d_____axd_, and a man -too lazy td light even a taper at his owO heartfe, usually takes the tar_gh£--t) tight he cat. get to come- and wann it _o_t him." " A woman should fcstfe _.sonices«in ier_e_f," sa-d the Parafwsw , coldly. "How would you like it _f she took np some hobby, «nd) toegleated everything else to ride it as you do yours?" cried Dahlia. "Has it never struck yon that yon can be a gfabtott iaoreadit-g am to Any ol_M_'tih__g that yoa 3-l»? Yoa browse away ot. «U these mrodhicts of o_h.er _u__ds as ai well-fed beast doe. oi. » tfich pasture j aatd yet todo*_.e little bib ot«<rig__al work, ofiß ymp&mt'ba.t, would make a truer man of yon. Dreams are rust if yon don't trai___i_te- themsinto the gold of work!'' "*_s.__ impossiMfrWia-^e^tl. you^" said 4-to fftafeasor, majeßtically. "Your int«llect a_»6> ____«' are as far asilhe poles asm_oje_." • ; .. "___«___ 4Qod!" -aid! _>a__ia, ana _«ayed HeaJVß_uto*_ave her f-oi_ -uccmn'hing to the deadly te__ptation !h_s pushed'ttp -pectacles affo-ded her fo> __os___4liie_oi. "I will give yoU _«_»« __Oney to-go and? buy yourself a toew miod,'' be Bakt, and his tone wad quite fe-d-Qinely and refreshingly spiteful. perhaps, you will talk sense." «<3___ity heg_h_ at -jame,"" __to_ted _>a__ia. "_tuy one ifor yorn-e-f -b_ft. You wa_rt « good _haJ6i_^ «p»-youtv« f waWl^ it -or.xDaoy years, and T^shyr has been nmch wiiii yoi_. A coa^t-anded, th-_o«ig_ir|»--d virago wouldj have made m&oa the ioatoo. yon. Yottf w_fo*ega_k by Ws_tr_g on you, and now yoa can't and • W o_/lft^ar<__mg^yo«ff-elf v It will come soon to your being washed and dressed and sent' out in a perai-bulato. ; and one day youll sleep a little longer and later Sham •usual, and you'll be a-tondshed to find! that you are dead; butt shan't, for you are three parte dead already! Do yoa go out for a waik, or to see a play, or to look up a friend, or 'p-_-u.m any duty of a citizen:? One of t_-e>o-d! sages says, 'Be not a, neuter in.aayJKhing,' wao, you are just a-J-eutei* — -wftlieh, Btrie_y spea_Sng, __ea_s a vegetalbJe'l" lie Prof essor «at d-n-Wounded^beforeHthe .fcri<__4)_i_ of abuse flying about his ears, (buried^ by the hand of this vulga-, ignorant ehat. He, the .earned _?_ofe_sor, hauled over *he coals like -this! And how furious tß_hj would be if she could heariher. "My .positioi-," be-begaa., witb dignity. "A position fifteen yeara old," said I____ia ruthlessly. " What have you done or produce since then? You ahould have beeurdeveloping allthe way alohg-^tandi on an infinitely higher pianacle than you did t-uan^-and what ate you? A second-hand British Musenn. of literature. And if you are too lazy to keep in touch! with your friend-, and too slovenly to be welcomed aiywhfiie, try at any rate- to keep the light of your owni hearthstone bright. For what if it went out," she added, with a sudden mournful change it-. her tone, "aiid you be left lonely?' " I do not recognise your right to repri- ' mand me," he began: ; but there was a ring of humanity in Ids Voice that met a quick response in Dahlia, and she jumped up, and went round to where he sat in. front of the untouched plate that would so have -vexed Tishy's soul. "Ohl" She aaid very lown- , . \ 'Idle is too short to <waste, In critic jeer or cynic bark, Quarrel or reprimand; 'Twill soon be dark; Up I Mind thine own aim, -md God speed the mark!' and if it were dark for her, what would youdo?" That simple question from the little spitfire whom he had. never tried to understand, pressed him hard, his eyes became almost blue, and in them showed traces of the man whom Tishy had loved, and believed in, and defied all her people to marry. He got up abruptly and went out, shutting the door behind him ; and Dahlia listening breathlessly, did not hear him go into bis study, but her eyes flashed with joy when she heard his footsteps overhead. , "Poor Tishy," she said, "half a loaf is better than none, and if a woman has her taste for fancy breads and ornamental twists, what is She to do?" And then, perhaps, because she was so happy, she pttt her head down on the table, and did what she always thought a disgracefully cowardly thing to do, wept. "Dahlia!" exclaimed a concerned young Voice behind her, and a kind hand smoothed lovingly her dark hair ; but having once began she could not immediately stop, though anger at being caught helped to restore -selfmastery. " Why doesn't he die," she cried spitefully, as she lifted a blurred face with closed eyes for inspection, " if he-can'fr-do anything else properly?" Tony laughed, and" dried her face with a capable, useful handkerchief. . He would have liked to give her the support of an equally capable arm, but, meanwhile, his neighbourhood brought" _o__fort, as the presence of a. man in time of trouble often does. " What has the poor old chap being doing now?" he inquired, as Dahlia pulled herself together, murmuring that she had been, crying from " just temper ; " for to be-suspeeted by Tony of a heart that could -bleed' was the very last thing that she" wished. " Tony," she said solemnly, " had you and Elric really and truly the same mother?" - "Yes. No one can possibly mistake his own mother for another fellow'* mother, you know. Why?" "And the same father?" Tony burst out ladghihg. "My dear girl," be s_id;' then added, "my mother was never married but once, and with a difference of twenty years between us, Elric and I are awfully alike you know." "I hate you men!" exclaimed Dahlia, turning her back on the disordered table, and going to the fireplace. " Sugar-barley-stick men, I mean, like the Professor." " And they make such a capital contrast to you," said Tony, with twinkling eyes. " Just look in the glass." And she looked and groaned, though there was something irrestibly contagious in his laughing/ bandsome face. Dahlia she was called, and «dahliared were her gown and the warm tints of her cheeks and the rich dark hair and eyes that made of her brunette beauty so glowing and Vital a thing. " Dark men are more faithful, more uneelfish," she said, .with a, disparaging glance at Tony's sunny locks ; " fair men like you for how you look, dark ones for what you are." " You have had much experience," said Tony, equably, "and you ought to know." "And I suppose that by the time you are forty-five," went oh Dahlia, taking in the" young inan's sinewy limb and conspicu)ou_ air of outdoor life, "you will have fallen to pieces like Elric, who will turn onto a paper-moth wfEen he dies, and buzz about second-hand book-shops." „*'E irio has a btaaUj and I. haven't," said Tony. "That's why my collars. fit, and my ta&lo- gets elaaigßd into treating roe properly." "I hate brains," said Dahlia, vindic- "' ' '. ■'. "I t .!!. ■■'.„' ■' ~—

' tiVely. "They «rejust a dead wall put up ' between you and' <a> beattbiful world that 1 prevents your enjoying it. And hy excluding every ray of light* andi air from his f person and pursuits, as'EMo does, all tihe joy of life is dferken-^-or^shy as well as jb-mself.'' , "But we- all' like to do 'what We-* are fond of, and -we don't-all like the same things," pleaded Tony, "What a groovy world it would be if we did! Elrie'e heart is in the right place; but a man's oairelessness and thoughtlessness are often greater than his sins. ."Son, 6ee, we look to the big things; if we thought of all the little' thing- you women do (whose lives are xn_de up of fcrdfles), we should- never get tlaxragb our work." "But it's the little tibings that matter!" cried Da-ilia, wistfully; "the things that no amount of money will buy. The little talk, the little treat, the compliment, tbe surprise, the bunch of flowers, things that cost nothing. Oh! these are what we women like ! To be real -hums to you ; itiot just man? and women, but brother and sister; to be able to go about together, to talk everything out together, and chaff, and enjov the adventures of the (road ; not to feel tne burden on one of being civil, and making talk. That is my idea of _appy rela.tion_hdp between us." " And won't you be my road 1 companion, dear?---" said Tony, laying both bands on her shoulders and looking deep into her eyes, "be my life-long c_mn_, come shine, come rain, to the very end? This is Christaros _sv_--------"I t_d_k that was why I cried," she said, and blushed, and laid the back of one hand- against his eager lips. "One would like even one's enemies to I>e happy at Ghri-tmas; and I want Tishy to! be happy, too. But w_ll Ebac ever alter now? Istft it too late? I--_ gave him a tenable dressing down.', and surely some' of it must -tick?" sue added anxiously. " You. words have a knack of sticking," said Tony, significantlyi "and a fine handful you'll "be for a wife," he added, shaking, bis lhandso-me fair head. "But I'm not afraid to risk it ; and I can growl, as you know. We have been awfully good pals, both indoors and out. Andf so " But Dahlia eluded him. " The servants will be coming in," she said (it struok Tony they were purposely keeping out of the way). " And— and— Tve a condition to make before— before I promise anything!" But her eyes had given her away -long ago, and Tony~promptly agreed blindfold to anything she -liked. "Well, then, you mnst take Eirio in hand aind make him see ihis neglect of Tishy in the right light. And if you can't afld don't," she paused, "well, we'll just be good pals still, but we won't get married—two '_-lrics in one family .would be too much!" " And how long do yon give me to prove that Elric is turning over a new "leaf?" "Till New Year's Day." Tony's jaw dropped. A whole week before he could get that ikiss— and many more— for which he had so longed! ""But if I -get him -into -hape*"«ooner? he 4_&_£6CL? "We'll see. But if the foundations of Tishy's happiness are -irmly laid— no jerry building, mind—^and— -=-and ' " You lay the foundation stone-jof mine," said Tony, and kissed the top of 'her head, bent in shyness close to his lips. "Youll understand that we are to be engaged for a long, long time. No'inarry_og or anytJhing of that sort?" "But if we love one another,^ why not/ "Oh! Tony!" And she looked up at him reproachfully. "Have you-everlooked at a single girl's hand, and a married girl s __und>-the difference ! One is so- round and smooth, and not a line in it ; and the other looks -named and careworn directly. It holds so much responsibnity and work! And its the frivolling round, and love-mak-ing that we women like— so please let us j be engaged for ever and ever!" " H _n,"~ murmured Tony, with, laughing eyes. " And how about those^.cydmg tours —stopping at every little- inn -hat' takes our fancy, and being real vagabonds together in glorious weather. How could we do it if we were spinster and bachelor?" "But if we were married," objected Dahlia, " I shouldn't have any tours, but stay at home to mind tbei- dust-bin" andf the coal-ceUar-^-gb,!" . /-,'•' "Come out and- finish buying our-Christ-inas presents," said Tony, briskly. " And meanwhile, just to keep me going, you know — " He snatched a kiss from the back of Uer neck as she turned precipitately away. PART n. Tishy was a very pretty creature- of two-and-thirty, that most delightful age for a bright woman, when youth has not left her, but mind has given expression to her features,, and meaning to her character. And yet, pretty a® she was, Tishy had the look of One about whom blew no spicy airs of courtship, no warm west wind of constant love; and since we are mostly reflectors of those nearest to us, and few have enough, independence or selfishness to manufacture eunsbine to be consumed on the premises, Tishy had allowed the Professor's gloomy sou. to" impinge on hers, till most of the great joy of life, the true and beautiful, was __ __T K<6 __L6__ While Dahlia's battle with Elric was raging below, Tishy was lying perfectly straight and still upstairs in her big bed, and asking herself why, if life is such a beautiful thing, w© are most happy when we forget it — when we are asleep? And if death is to come to us as a conscious feeling of sliding dreamlessly into forgetfulmess and rest, can any more exquisite sensation be Imagined? And the incentive to live, the heart of life to her, were missing. Many a woman take's up her cross daily, not with the fire-o* eelf -sacrifice in.her.,veins, but with a dull, stolid resistance, in-.; which is neither -glory nor pleasure. And) to -many a _ife-^atid you may number them by thousands and thousands— is given a man in broken pieces to patch, to repair, to put up with ; while the whole man, his strength, everything that makes him desirable, has been squandered. The wife brings her young, glorious womanhood to the unequal : part. 'The little sun' that at first informed it gradually dwindles, wavers, and goes out altogether, and the man usually does nob care or trouble to think of how he has : cheated the woman. -If he thinks at all, it is ' to pity himself, and in his -Self-pity he becomes a morose and unbearable companion And many a torpid man whose (at one time) "Only books were women's looks, And folly all they taught him,' ; at a later period of his life embraces the self-indulgent luxury of reading, since it calls for no serious effort, no expenditure of >energy oi. his part, it is eminently respectable, it is agreeable, and by the name of " Study," he dignifies what is, perhaps, the inost brutally selfish (to those around him) of all the vices— the vice of inordinate reading. . And it was this self-indulgence in the Professor, masquerading, like miatoy another vice, as a virtue, that had slowly blotted out all the sunshine of Tishy's life, and gradually extinguished in himself every

own transcendent gift to the poorest beg-i gar under the sky. Something in Tishy's i__mob_ity, her silefice, struck painfully on the Professor ashe entered' the room* She was usually so bright andi gay— gayer, if less merry, than Dahlia, because she brought more courage, if less heart, to the interpretation of her role. She looked up at him surprised 1 , and he stooped' down and kissedJ her. There was more warmth than usual in his chill lips. "Do you want anything?" she. .said. "I hope the maids are Hooking after you properly." He glanced at her invalid's tray, as neglected. as his own luncheon below stairs, and felt her pulse, which was feeble, for the deep, < alimost suicidal depression that follows influenza was upon her, and for once the gallant spirit would not answer the call made upon it, and enable her to rise. For a, moment he refleotedV. painfully on what he should do for her. One could almost hear his mind creak at the unaccustomed exercise; it was always she who thought for him. Then, with .several stitches suddenly taken in his tall, ill-knit figure, he went out of the room, returning shortly with a bottle cf channpagne, that he danced about with, not in the i least kniowing bow to open it. Tishy, greatly revived, laughed), and, delighted at this new spirit of enterprise, told him to fetch some scissors from her table, and after a protracted- struggle with the wire, and careful holding of the bottle at arm?- 'length for fear of aocjdemt, the cork went off with a rousing bang, spitefully lifting the thatch from! the top of his head, and nearly -caring him into a fit. Tishy drank a 'little . of what was not wasted, then ate a morsel of sweetbread aw_3va_dly cut up by the Erofessor, pluckily fighting her tears, as -with lingering touch; he. strokedwher hair. "Qu_rrel:-. or reprimand:; 'Tw__- soon- -bee _a_k." He found his lips __oving^-rep-_A__g the;"' words as he stood beside the woman' whom, .in his tadpole fashion, he- had never ceased to love — and neglect. And how pretty she -was in spite of her pallor, how very pretty — surely he had forgotten it. And yet, like many another dry-as-dusb man, only the flower that had- perfume and colour attracted him. " I will bring up my books," he said, "and sit beside you" (in this upheaval cf his usual habits he harked back helplessly to Dahlia's instructions), then awkwardly removed the tray, and walked, instead of drifting as he usua_ly did, to the door. Tishy lay quite still. Someone had put the clock of love back for her, and whose but Dahlia's hasty, loving hand? Not an hour ago she had come face to face with that terrible epoch in her woman's life when she looks back, not forward. All along she has hoped for better things, and Time has laughed, for Time is not for woman. And when the Professor returned, untidy, inept, depositing a load of books and papers on the bed, in that moment she reaped the full reward of her silence and loyaity towards him; for the woman who complains of her husband, bars for ever the re-entry of long-tarrying love into his __ngdc_a. The Penfelope who silently weaves and unweaves all her love, rebellion and sorrow, oftener than not, snares here Ulysses safely at last within the four walls of home. Sooner or later the man must stray into the one room where the woman who loves him patiently awaits his coming. Dahlia looked in presently on the happy domesticity of . the scene that had been a howling wildreness, enclosing a desolate woman, only one short hour before; but with more. than her usual flippancy, seemed concerned only to inquire whether her new hat, selected with!- Tony's help, was^or was not becoming? . What a disappointing girl she was, the Professor thought, with a sudden revulsion of his late softened feelings towards her. Indeed, to him she always seemed a passionate child, who did good from impulse, and wrong because she really liked it, constantly playing truant from that school of life in which many hard lessons must be learnt, if. the path from birth, to the sepulchre is to be trod nobly and well. He had already forgotten that he had been " commandeered " by her into doing his duty to Tishy. But the sisters' eyes met as Dahlia stooped down to say good-bye, and she had her reward. " A good girl, but her tongue runs away with her," said the Professor, and Tishy held her peace. It is not what you say, but what you don't say, that in married life makes for peace. Tony was waiting.for her at the. foot of the stairs, and her face was so happy that his fortunes immediately felt the illumination of it, and he carried her off in wild spirits ; a state of bliss not to be spoilt by some cryptic sayings of Dahliai on an interesting subject. • " Men have no sense of proportion in love," she said saucily. " They withhold it when- you perish for it, and when you don't want it — say when someone else admires you they smother you in treacle. They caSi be horrid over at copper, and behave like a Prince over big sums, a relio probably of woman's subserviency to man." " I. can't say I ever saw much subserviency in you," said Tony, walking so close to her in the cheery crowd that all who ran might read the .story of the two beautiful young people that painted itself rosily on the dull December day. "And if you think I'm going to hold out till New Year's day, you're mistaken. You left Tishy awfully happy, didn't you?" "Ripping !" "And if she comes down to dinner tonight, and is happy to-morrow, and happier at our Christmas dinner to-morrow night, will y ou * a J £e Elric's good intentions on trust, and make me happiest of all?" Dahlia turned on Jhim a sweet little threequarter face, set in a dahlia-red velvet- hat, and said earnestly, " As good chums, mind ; not as silly man and woman, but because we suit." " A ragamuffin, husband, and a rantipoling wife, We'll fiddle, andi we'll scrape ■ it through life," \ cried Tony, joyfully drawing her hand under .his arm, "and a glorious time we will have. And now, darling, what shall we buy for the turtle-doves?" The Professor's wife had brushed the Professor's hair, as she had been wont to brush it ten years ago, and he had dressed himself as he had been wont to do when he was a very good-looking fellow, and now the two sat opposite each other that Christmas night, and Dahlia and Tony 1 j

_ frivolled at the sides of the table, aind' won-dered-if they would wear as well andi bo half as good4ooking when theyhad' reachedl.*h©ir seniors' ages, but greatly doubted it. And. later, over their walnuts and wine, the brothers had a talk that only a few diays before the Professor-would havo-angrilyre-' sented. "I love Dahlia," said Tony, "and I think she loves met." "A good girl, but. flippant," said EMo. " The girls of the • present day are not brought up as when I was young, or even as when Tishy was." There was a difference of twelve years between tho sisters. "No," said Tony. "Formerly the children had to fry their parents' fishi — now* the parents are very occasionally allowed! to fry their own. But Dahlia and I have always been — and hope to be^-good chums. Only there as a little difficulty. She dimly re-; members you as good-looking and' young, amd devoted to Tishy." Tony's smile robbed the words of rude intention. "I am no longer young, nor good-look-ing," said Elric (at that moment' he looked both), "but I -love my wife as dearly as. ever." "Dahlia seems to think I -may neglect her, you know," said Tony, "shlit myself up with books (EMc smiled in pity) and never take her about or fool round with her; and it's a pecuHarity of her family, once never to fool round with any men but their husbands. And she seems to think that neglect of their wives may run in our family. If— if you could remember to pay Tishy a compliment sometimes, and bring her a nosegay or any little present that costs twopence-halfpenny, jnst to show that you remembered' her, it" would help me a lot, old man — as an earnest to Dahlia that I should; do the same, when we have been married a dozen • years or so as yoU have." Elric frowned, then , suddenly Dahlia's pleading voice sounded 1 in his ears, " Quarrel or reprimand; Twill soon be dark." "It was sheer carelessness and selfishness," he said, clearing his throat, and across the table he gripped Tony's hand. "Your little spitfire "—he paused and smiled — "I mean your sweetheart, opened my eyes pretty thoroughly to-dayj and they won't close again in a hurry. You xaay tell her that I mean- to try and set you a good example. Let us drink to the health of my dear wife and yours that is to be, and God bless them both!" "And if there were more women like them, the world would be a better place," said Tony as he set down his glass and flew to his love. After all they had not to wait until New Year's Day to be happy.