"I'm petered out," she answered, with a hysterical attempt at a laugh. Then, to my dismay, she burst out crying.

Now, I had known Kitty Bolton intimately for many years. Once upon a time I had hoped to . . . Well, no matter, that was before Jimmy appeared on the scene: I repeat, I had known her very intimately, but had never seen her in tears. A cheerful, bustling, energetic little soul, she carried with her sunshine, not showers, wherever she went. At a loss to find a suitable phrase, I waited patiently for a minute or two and held my peace.

"Perhaps," I suggested, as her sobs subsided, "it might help you, Kitty, to have an-old time talk with me. Give your trouble words, my dear.”

"It's Jimmy," she faltered.

"He doesn't love me any more. That's all. I'm

a fool, as he says, to cry about it, but the sudden sight of your kind face, George, reminded me of happier days."

"You have been married five years-eh?"

"Yes, five years. Jimmy has been awfully good to me. He has nice ways, you know, with women-never rough, never rude. He says himself that he's the easiest person in the world to get along with; and so he is. It is all my fault. I'm beginning to think that we Boltons are different from Jimmy, and Mrs. McVickar, and all of that set. We are archaic. Jimmy is up to date, and much too clever for me. He laughs at my crudities. I ought to have married a dear old simple Simon like you, George; but I fell in love with Jimmy. Now he wants to leave me, and I can't bear it.'

"But, Kitty, as a good wife you should consider your husband. He needs rest— so he says: well, give him rest. If he wishes to go to Jericho, let him go! Urge him to go and stay away from you as long as he likes. Give him rope."

Her eyes brightened, and the colour began to return slowly to her cheeks. "I think I understand," she replied softly. "But, George-oh, how can I tell you!--he wishes to go to the Islands; and I know the reason: that-that woman is going there too."

"What of it?" I said lightly. "I know Jimmy well. He is to be trusted. So is Mrs. Mac. Neither will injure themselves in the eyes of Mrs. Grundy. You can gamble on that."

"I don't care," she answered obstinately: "I won't have my Jimmy sailing over summer seas with that false, smirking, scented wretch. I'm surprised, George, at you; I thought you were my friend."

"Suppose, Kitty, that I went with Jimmy?

I need a rest, too; we all need

rest. Would my being along make any difference?"

"Yes, it would. I can trust him with you, George. But how can you leave your profession? and you are getting along so capitally; we are all so proud of you. No, no, no-you cannot leave California."

"None the less," I replied, "I have made up my mind to go to the Islands, whether Jimmy goes or not. I am interested in-er-the sugar industry. It will be a business proposition for me."

We argued at length; but I gained my point, and when I left the house found myself practically pledged to accompany Jimmy, as watch-dog, to Honolulu, and return. Microscopically considered, I was glad of the opportunity of examining the protozoa of Hawaii; but I knew that a rising lawyer has no business lotos eating on coral strands, and a three-months' absence from the office meant a serious falling off of clients.

A fortnight later we sailed, and half San Francisco-so it seemed to me-came

down to the wharf to bid us Godspeed. Mrs. McVickar and Jimmy were assuredly social stars of the first magnitude. Jimmy, with his intimate knowledge of grand. ducal courts, and Mrs. Mac., with her Doucet dresses and sweet, indefinable, mysterious smile,-like the breaking of dawn through a mist, as Jimmy once said,— could not fail to command both respect and admiration from rich and poor alike. In five minutes they had taken undisputed possession of the ship. The whole crew, from captain to cabin-boy, were ready to swear that Jimmy was one of Nature's noblemen, and that Mrs. Mac. must have fallen full grown from Heaven, stopping en route at Paris merely to clothe herself! To these two the German governess and myself acted as excellent foils.

"I love ugly people," Mrs. Mac. had once said to me at a Friday night german, "because nine times out of ten they're so kind and unselfish." These words of wisdom I repeated to the Fraülein Pilsener. She looked at me, and a smile rippled across her stolid, putty-coloured German features. From that moment we were fast friends.

For the first two days both Jimmy and Mrs. McVickar enjoyed rest, perfect and complete intellectually and morally, but not physically. From both these superior beings Father Neptune exacted the most rigorous tribute. His humbler subjects, Fraülein Pilsener and myself-hail, blessed doctrine of compensation !— were happily exempted. However, toward the close of the third day our handsome pair appeared on deck, and with the assistance of the captain, the first officer, myself, the Fraülein, a maid, and Jimmy's valet, succeeded in installing themselves side by side in two immense Bombay chairs. An hour later, seeing Jimmy hasten below, I took his vacant seat. Mrs. Mac. smiled up at me wanly, but graciously. "Jimmy," she said, "has a distinctly precious personality, but at present he is not himself. He was quite rude to me just now."

Sea-sick," I said curtly.

"I know. But a man of breeding should never forget himself. He should rise superior even to sea-sickness."

"But he did rise," I said, thinking of Jimmy's rapid flight.

"I asked him to pick up my vinaigrette-thank you so much! yes, that's itand he coolly told me that my want of consideration shocked him. Fancy that from Jimmy!"

I sympathised, and we talked upon indifferent topics for twenty minutes. Then I went below. I found my hero in his cabin, and asked him how he did.

"I'm almost sorry I started," he answered ruefully. "What fool christened this d―d ocean the Pacific? . . . By-the-bye, George, Mrs. Mac. showed me the cloven foot just now. She was positively snarky because I refused to pick up her cursed scent-bottle. You don't mind my swearing, do you? It braces me up. She knows my unfortunate condition, and the unreason of the request quite staggered me, It argued, so I told myself, a surprising intellectual weakness." "Temporary aberration, doubtless."

"I suppose so.—Now, Kitty, with all her faults, would have shown more regard for a poor stomach-twisted devil.”

"But Kitty, according to you, is a fool."

"Don't be brutal, George. I never called my wife a fool. That would be bad form. Foolish-yes a fool-no. Poor little girl! She cried bitterly when she kissed me goodbye.-Gad! there goes the dinner bell. Tell my man to bring me a quail, broiled, and a pint of Piper Heidsieck, brut. After dinner you can come and read to me if you like. I have Bourget's last novel, but I don't know

that I could stand your French accent. The least thing upsets my contounded inside."

I shall not attempt to describe in detail the enchanting days of the voyage out. Nor may I inflict upon a patient reader the rhapsodies of Mrs. MacVickar and Jimmy. One sample will suffice.

"I could sail on like this," I overheard her murmur, "for ever! This, Jimmy, is rest indeed."

"Rest, my dear Mabel," he replied, "but not stagnation. New processes are at work within us. I can feel the quickening throes of thought. I am pregnant with potentialities. I could face that dunce Tom Bolton, and brave his platitudes with impunity. A week ago the mere sight of the fellow provoked an attack of nervous prostration. Yes, Mabel, this is repose, and recuperation."

The two-headed nightingale was no more inseparable than they; but the brazen effrontery of their everlasting tête-à-tête evoked no scandal, not even gossip. It was tacitly taken for granted that these were privileged characters, chartered flirts, so to speak, above and beyond criticism. The captain, who sat between them at meals, explained matters to the Fraulein and myself.

"They're too deep for our soundings," said the honest old salt, significantly tapping his weather-beaten forehead. "Intellectual, I mean. Bless you, I don't know half the time what they're talkin' about. But they're the prettiest pair and the politest pair I ever sailed with, and-good as gold. I understand" (he turned to me, and lowered his gruff tones) "that Major MacVickar drinks!"

"Like a fish."

"You don't Say so! What drove him to it?"

"A woman, I believe.".

Fraulein Pilsener, worthy creature, waddled away coughing violently. I had touched, I think, her funny spot. Her eyes are small, but she knows how to use them, and I had inferred from a few disjointed phrases that she liked the Major and was sorry for him. The captain, however, condemned him roundly, in language impossible to repeat.

Upon arrival at the hotel at Honolulu something worthy of record transpired. Mrs. MacVickar required four of the very best rooms for herself and children. One of these--only one, as he piteously observed at the time-Jimmy wanted for himself; but Mrs. Mac. would not let him have it.

"Can Mabel be selfish?" he asked me earnestly. "Can a woman with a face like an angel's be selfish? If so, my faith in the sex is shattered. Selfishness," he concluded emphatically, "is the unpardonable sin.”

We met many very pleasant people in the Islands, and were entertained handsomely. Mrs. Mac. had provided herself with what she called a "stunning frock or two." It is to be regretted that our San Francisco climate does not lend itself to the wearing of diaphanous apparel. Tulle, baptiste, gauze are positively indecent in connection with fogs, dust, and trade winds. But beneath the Tropic of Cancer -that is another affair! Now, Jimmy, for a man of brain, set an extravagant value upon chiffons. Exquisite forms of marine algæ provoked his ridicule, but a Virot hat stimulated all that was best in him; and the sight of Mrs. Mac., her slender figure and delicate features tenderly outlined against a background of tropical vegetation, stirred his pulses to ecstasy.

"Gad!" he said to me: "it's an inspiration to look at her a privilege to see her smile. Men have died for less. She isn't flesh and blood, George. She's

a Greek lyric set to Mascagni's music."

I thought of the Greek lyric's appetite (an amazing one for a lady of her weight), and was stricken dumb. To tell the truth, I was seriously alarmed. In a sense I was responsible for Jimmy. Had I undertaken a task beyond my strength?

This

We dined that night at the British consul's, and met there an Englishman, the Honourable Bertie Fitz Urse, a superb animal, with Plantagenet blood coursing through his veins, and a fourinch-high collar around his noble throat. gentleman was immensely struck with Mrs. Mac. During dinner-I remember Jimmy was exceptionally brilliant-he gave his undivided attention to the menu, but on the verandah afterwards he had his innings. Somebody mentioned Sandow and feats of strength. The Hon. Bertie opened his mouth and began to talk. Respect for the peerage kept most of us silent, and, besides, we were interested. From words the mighty Fitz Urse passed to deeds. He picked up Jimmy with one hand and held him aloft! Mrs. Mac. gasped, and a peculiar light shone in her velvety eyes; her perfect lips parted; her bosom heaved. Then the Briton bared his good right arm and gave us an instructive object-lesson upon the physiology of bodily exercise. We were charmed: Mrs. Mac. most of all. When Fitz Urse had finished he modestly withdrew from the centre of our circle; and Mrs. Mac.- who always took the initiative with men-beckoned him to her side.

Jimmy was cut out!

"The sight of Mrs. Mac....

stirred his pulses to ecstacy."

"I shouldn't care a rush," he confessed to me, some forty-eight hours later, "but this fellow is a clown, a Tony Lumpkin. His brain-d- -n him-is in inverse ratio to his muscle. Oh Lord! oh Lord!"

"Never mind," I replied soothingly: "you can give yourself up completely to the rest cure. The female everywhere introduces the element of strife. Let us eliminate her. Rest for you, with Mrs. Mac. around, is unthinkable."

"Heaven knows," he moaned, "that the Bolton intelligence is below the average; but do you suppose Kitty would prefer that muscular monstrosity to me?"

I assured him gravely that in my opinion Kitty would be loyal to him through thick and thin-even if he lost his nose and bought his cravats ready made.

Several days passed, and the flirtation between Mrs. McVickar and the big Englishman became the talk of the town. Jimmy was abjectly miserable, and complained of insomnia. The rest cure, he admitted, was a failure. Finally Fitz Urse invited Mrs. Mac. and a select party to

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