asked of Phyllis, while she waved the tail feathers of the loveliest of
the birds of paradise before her face.

"The bird?--not the _bird_," laughed Phyllis.

"But the topic was paradise?" Ella joined in the laugh--yes, to some
extent.

"I talked of Adam--the old one of that name," said Mr. Courtland.

"And Eve--the new one of that name," said Phyllis.

"Theology is in the air!" cried Ella. "Even the stage of a theater is
not free from the taint. It must be the case of Mr. Holland. Where is
Mr. Holland, by the way, Lord Earlscourt?"

"I haven't seen him for some time. He must have gone away. I'm not Mr.
Holland's keeper, thank Heaven!" said Lord Earlscourt, with heartfelt
devoutness.

"Now you know that everyone holds you accountable for what he has done!"
said Ella.

"Then that's just where everyone makes a mistake," said he. "Great
Lord! is it your idea of British justice to persecute the wrong man? Why
doesn't the bishop do his duty? What do we pay him for?"

"We won't abandon our charity at the call of theology," said Ella.

"Theology--represented by Lord Earlscourt," said Mr. Courtland.

"You don't know how I've been abused during the past fortnight, indeed
you don't," moaned Lord Earlscourt. "Why, there's my own wife, she
abused me like a cab-driver because George Holland had been with us on
the platform when the Chinese teetotalers came here to protest against
the public houses in England; she says that his backsliding will
put back the cause a quarter of a century. Then there are the other
churchwardens; they look on me as if I had been making a suggestion to
raffle the sacred plate. George Holland has a run for his money, but
I've had no fun out of it."

"It does seem hard," said Courtland. "But it's plain that the case calls
for persecution, and why not persecute you? Someone must be persecuted,
you'll admit."

"Then why the--"

"I thought that your good old Bunyip would look in on us before long,"
said Courtland. "There's no possibility of discussing delicate points in
theology without him."

"I think we had better go home," said Ella.

"We must have some consideration for our host," said Courtland. "We
didn't all play the part of _Cagliostro_ to-night."

During the movement of her circle and the adjustment of wraps,
preparatory to the delivery of a valedictory word of congratulation to
the great actor, Ella said in a low tone to Herbert Courtland:

"Cagliostro? No; we didn't all play