re you game to come with me this afternoon and inspect 'Magnetic
Villa' and the 'refined family circle'?"

"Yes. And, by Jove! if you take up your quarters there, I will do so
as well. We could try it, anyway. I'm batching with Battray, the police
inspector, and three other fellows. It was only going to cost us L3 a
week each; it costs us more like L6."

"Of course, too much liquor, and all that," said the editor of the
_Champion_, with a merry twinkle in his eye.

Scarcely had the sub-editor left when a knock announced another visitor,
and Grainger, booted and spurred, entered the room.

Mallard jumped from his chair and shook hands warmly with him. "This is
a surprise, Grainger. When did you get to town?"

"About an hour ago. Myra is with me; her six months' visit has come to
an end, and my mother and my elder sister want her back again; so she is
leaving in the next steamer. But all the hotels are packed full, and
as the steamer does not leave for a week, I don't know how to manage.
That's why I came to see you, thinking you might know of some place
where we could put up for a week."

"I shall be only too delighted to do all I can. The town is very full
of people just now, and the hotels are perfect pandemoniums, what with
Chinkie's Flat, the rush to the Haughton, Black Gully, and other places
Townsville is off its head with bibulous prosperity, and lodgings of
any kind fit for a lady are unobtainable. Ah, stop! I've forgotten
something. I do know of a place which might suit Miss Grainger very
well. Where is she now?"

"In the alleged sitting-room at the 'Queen's.' I gave the head waiter a
sovereign to let her have it to herself for a couple of hours whilst I
went out and saw what I could do."

Then Mallard told Grainger of "Magnetic Villa."

"Let us go and see this refined family," he said with a laugh. "I don't
know them, but from what my sub tells me, I daresay Miss Grainger could
manage with them for a week. I know the house, which has two advantages:
it is large, and is away from this noisy, dirty, dusty, and sinful
town."

"Very well," said Grainger" as he took out his pipe, "will three o'clock
suit? My sister might come."

"Of course. Now tell me about Chinkie's Flat. Any fresh news?"

"Nothing fresh; same old thing."

"'Same old thing!'" and Mallard spread out his arms yearningly and
rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. "Just listen to the man, O ye gods!
'The same old thing!' That means you a