dden spring ... Still I _am_ master in my own house." And I
turned the cup round again....

Another month passed and I could bear it no longer. Yesterday I made up
my mind. I would speak to Jane myself. I turned my First Prize the right
way up, and then looked for Celia.

"Celia," I said firmly, "where is Jane?"

"She's gone out," said Celia softly. "Her--her man goes off to-day."

***

An hour later, with bands playing and people cheering, they wheeled out
of barracks, brown and businesslike. Jane was in the front somewhere,
waving her handkerchief--not such a silly Jane, after all. And at the
back, very proud for her, Celia and I stood silent, with a something in
the throat that had come there suddenly....

And this morning the cup was upside-down again. Well, well, if she likes
it that way, that way let it be.

But take warning, O Jane! When your man--here's luck to him!--comes
back, then I shall assert myself once more. My cup, "Long Jump, 1739.
First Prize," shall stand the right way up; either that or you leave my
service. I am determined about this....

Meanwhile we can share the daily paper.

A. A. M.

* * * * *

"Dear _Mr. Punch_,--You may remember that QUEEN VICTORIA recorded in her
_Journal in the Highlands_ that 'Vicky sat down on a wasps' nest.'
'VICKY,' of course, was destined later to be the mother of WILHELM II.
Can we not see in the present situation rather a remarkable example of
heredity?--Yours, etc., MEDICO."

* * * * *

From a _Daily Chronicle_ special correspondent--

"A little meat and plenty of vegetables take one a long
way--lettuce, soup, eggs, en surprise, peas, dessert, voila--even
the very poor can afford such a dinner in Brussels."

A seven-course dinner is certainly more than we can afford in England.

* * * * *

Illustration: "IT'S AN ILL WIND ..."

_Old Cock Grouse._ "I SEE THEY'VE ALL GONE SHOOTING EAGLES."

* * * * *

THE PRIVATE VIEW.

I take train home every evening from one of our best stations. Crowned
heads fairly tumble over one another there in their anxiety to get a
first glimpse of London. Personages are matters of daily arrival.

The other night I reached my station just as a Personage was due. A
drive led from his platform to the outside world. On one side of it were
lined up the public six deep. On the ot