ed me. Again I trusted to the inspiration of accident, and
again fortune favoured me. A shower drove me, two days later, into one
of the historic churches on the left bank of the Seine, and there I
found, peering at the old wood-carvings, the Baron R., one of the
wealthiest and most shabbily dressed men in Paris. It was now or never.
Putting a strong American inflection into the French which I usually
talked with an unmistakable British accent, I catechised the Baron as to
the date of the church's building, its dimensions, and other details
which an American tourist would be certain to want to know. Having
acquired such information as the Baron was able to impart on short
notice, I solemnly placed the two-franc piece in his hand, with the
hearty assurance that it was "pour vous," and turned to go. The Baron
was slightly taken aback, but accepted the situation with a good grace.
Walking over to a small box fixed in the wall, he dropped Laploshka's two
francs into the slot. Over the box was the inscription, "Pour les
pauvres de M. le Cure."

That evening, at the crowded corner by the Cafe de la Paix, I caught a
fleeting glimpse of Laploshka. He smiled, slightly raised his hat, and
vanished. I never saw him again. After all, the money had been _given_
to the deserving rich, and the soul of Laploshka was at peace.

THE BAG

"The Major is coming in to tea," said Mrs. Hoopington to her niece.
"He's just gone round to the stables with his horse. Be as bright and
lively as you can; the poor man's got a fit of the glooms."

Major Pallaby was a victim of circumstances, over which he had no
control, and of his temper, over which he had very little. He had taken
on the Mastership of the Pexdale Hounds in succession to a highly popular
man who had fallen foul of his committee, and the Major found himself
confronted with the overt hostility of at least half the hunt, while his
lack of tact and amiability had done much to alienate the remainder.
Hence subscriptions were beginning to fall off, foxes grew provokingly
scarcer, and wire obtruded itself with increasing frequency. The Major
could plead reasonable excuse for his fit of the glooms.

In ranging herself as a partisan on the side of Major Pallaby Mrs.
Hoopington had been largely influenced by the fact that she had made up
her mind to marry him at an early date. Against his notorious bad temper
she set his three thousand a year, and his prospective succes