for Mysteries.

'I've enjoyed an interval of sanity,' Mrs. Hauksbee announced, after
tiffin was over and the two were comfortably settled in the little
writing-room that opened out of Mrs. Mallowe's bedroom.

'My dear girl, what has he done?' said Mrs. Mallowe sweetly. It is
noticeable that ladies of a certain age call each other 'dear girl,'
just as commissioners of twenty-eight years' standing address their
equals in the Civil List as 'my boy.'

'There's no he in the case. Who am I that an imaginary man should be
always credited to me? Am I an Apache?'

'No, dear, but somebody's scalp is generally drying at your wigwam-door.
Soaking rather.'

This was an allusion to the Hawley Boy, who was in the habit of riding
all across Simla in the Rains, to call on Mrs. Hauksbee. That lady
laughed.

'For my sins, the Aide at Tyrconnel last night told me off to The
Mussuck. Hsh! Don't laugh. One of my most devoted admirers. When the
duff came some one really ought to teach them to make puddings at
Tyrconnel The Mussuck was at liberty to attend to me.'

'Sweet soul! I know his appetite,' said Mrs. Mallowe. 'Did he, oh did
he, begin his wooing?'

'By a special mercy of Providence, no. He explained his importance as a
Pillar of the Empire. I didn't laugh.'

'Lucy, I don't believe you.'

'Ask Captain Sangar; he was on the other side. Well, as I was saying,
The Mussuck dilated.'

'I think I can see him doing it,' said Mrs. Mallowe pensively,
scratching her fox-terrier's ears.

'I was properly impressed. Most properly. I yawned openly. "Strict
supervision, and play them off one against the other," said The Mussuck,
shovelling down his ice by tureenfuls, I assure you. "That, Mrs.
Hauksbee, is the secret of our Government."'

Mrs. Mallowe laughed long and merrily. 'And what did you say?'

'Did you ever know me at loss for an answer yet? I said: "So I have
observed in my dealings with you." The Mussuck swelled with pride. He is
coming to call on me to-morrow. The Hawley Boy is coming too.'

'"Strict supervision and play them off one against the other. That,
Mrs. Hauksbee, is the secret of our Government." And I daresay if we
could get to The Mussuck's heart, we should find that he considers
himself a man of the world.'

'As he is of the other two things. I like The Mussuck, and I won't have
you call him names. He amuses me.'

'He has reformed you, too, by what appears. Explain the interval of
sanity, and hit Tim on