occasional scion of Royalty; in short, they cling as closely as
foreign skies and foreign associations permit to the observances which
have made English Society pre-eminent in its own respect, and in the
good-natured ridicule of less-favoured nations. But since the majority
of them have come in search of health, they cannot despise or reject
one who qualifies for consideration and interest by suffering,
and who, to the piquancy of an unknown origin, adds the high
recommendation of good looks--which are not too good--of a cheerful
temper, and an easy tact, which can only come of much knowledge of
many worlds. Such a one is the Lady from Cloudland. Many are the
questions asked about her, and even more various are the answers
given. "My dear," one lady will say to another, at the house of a
common friend, where the Lady from Cloudland has become the centre of
a throng of admirers, "I hear, on the very best authority, that her
mother used to sell flowers in the City, and that she herself was for
some years a Circus Rider in America. Whenever I meet her I feel a
dreadful inclination to say _Houp-la!_, instead of, How do you do?" To
which her friend will reply that she, on her side, has been informed
that the lady in question was formerly attached to the conjugal tribe
of an Indian Rajah, and was rescued by a Russian, whom she shortly
afterwards poisoned. They will then both invite her to their next
entertainments, asking her by no means to forget those delightful
Burmese love-ditties which only she can sing as they ought to be sung.

The Lady from Cloudland, however, does not limit her ambition to the
hybrid Society of the South of France. She intends to make for herself
a position in London, the Mecca of the aspirant, and she proposes
to use those who thus console themselves with spitefulness as
stepping-stones for the attainment of her object. At the beginning of
the following London Season Society will learn, by means of the usual
paragraphs, that "Mrs. So-and-So, whose afternoon party last year
in honour of Prince ---- was one of the most brilliant successes of a
brilliant Riviera Season, has taken the house in May Fair, formerly
occupied by Lord CLANRACKET." The reiteration of this news in many
journals will set tongues wagging in London. Again the same questions
will be asked, and different answers will be returned. In due
course she arrives, she receives and is received, and she conquers.
Henceforward her parties beco