, and went to bed thoughtful.

Next morning, for breakfast, a dish of kippers and a dish of kidneys were
placed on the table, side by side. Now the child loved kippers with an
affection that amounted almost to passion, while she loathed kidneys
worse than powders. It was the one subject on which she did know her own
mind.

"A kidney or a kipper for you, Jessie?" asked the mother, addressing the
elder child first.

Jessie hesitated for a moment, while her sister sat regarding her in an
agony of suspense.

"Kipper, please, ma," Jessie answered at last, and the younger child
turned her head away to hide the tears.

"You'll have a kipper, of course, Trixy?" said the mother, who had
noticed nothing.

"No, thank you, ma," said the small heroine, stifling a sob, and speaking
in a dry, tremulous voice, "I'll have a kidney."

"But I thought you couldn't bear kidneys," exclaimed her mother,
surprised.

"No, ma, I don't like 'em much."

"And you're so fond of kippers!"

"Yes, ma."

"Well, then, why on earth don't you have one?"

"'Cos Jessie's going to have one, and you told me to be original," and
here the poor mite, reflecting upon the price her originality was going
to cost her, burst into tears.

* * * * *

The other three of us refused to sacrifice ourselves upon the altar of
Brown's originality. We decided to be content with the customary
beautiful girl.

"Good or bad?" queried Brown.

"Bad," responded MacShaughnassy emphatically. "What do you say,
Jephson?"

"Well," replied Jephson, taking the pipe from between his lips, and
speaking in that soothingly melancholy tone of voice that he never
varies, whether telling a joke about a wedding or an anecdote relating to
a funeral, "not altogether bad. Bad, with good instincts, the good
instincts well under control."

"I wonder why it is," murmured MacShaughnassy reflectively, "that bad
people are so much more interesting than good."

"I don't think the reason is very difficult to find," answered Jephson.
"There's more uncertainty about them. They keep you more on the alert.
It's like the difference between riding a well-broken, steady-going hack
and a lively young colt with ideas of his own. The one is comfortable to
travel on, but the other provides you with more exercise. If you start
off with a thoroughly good woman for your heroine you give your story
away in the first chapter. Everybody knows precisely how she will behave
under every conce