ner to the window,
and Sylla with clasped hands mutely protesting her innocence and
ignorance of the robbery.

With the clue afforded by the solution of the first syllable, the
audience very soon make out the second; and that the word was either
"mistake" or "mistaken" they entertained little doubt. Curiosity now
centred on what version they would give of the whole, for that each word
was to be rendered in three tableaux had been stated before the
performance commenced.

The curtain rises again upon the last scene; and upon this occasion the
representation is motionless. In the centre of the stage, Lionel
Beauchamp, in the guise of a policeman, is snapping-to the hand-cuffs on
the weeping Sylla. On the left, with averted head, stands Mrs. Sartoris,
indicating sorrow for the offender, but entire belief in her guilt. On
the opposite side, Jim Bloxam, attired in evening costume, is
unmistakably directing the officer to remove his prisoner. Slowly the
curtain descends amid much acclamation and cries of "Mistake!" In his
capacity of stage-manager, Jim Bloxam glides for a moment in front, and,
in a few off-hand words to the audience, acknowledges the correctness of
their apprehension.

"I give Jim credit for his exertions. That really was most successful,"
said Lady Mary, as her son disappeared.

"I fancy the success is due more to Miss Sylla than him," rejoined Pansey
Cottrell, suavely. "Jim, as we all know, though one of the best of
fellows, is the most execrable of actors; and I don't think those
tableaux look like his inspiration."

"I am sure he is quite as good as the generality of amateurs," retorted
Lady Mary, with no little asperity.

She was no more exempt from the true womanly instinct that prompts the
regarding of her own chicks as swans than any of her sex. Mr. Cottrell
was much too quick-witted not to see that his criticism was distasteful,
but he never could resist the temptation of teasing his fellow-creatures.

"Admitting, for the sake of argument, Lady Mary," he replied, "that Jim
is an average actor, when one knows that there is rather exceptional
talent in the troupe, one is apt to regard that as the guiding spirit.
Sylla Chipchase is very clever at all this sort of thing, I know, because
I have seen her on previous occasions."

"You seem to be losing your head about that girl, Pansey, like the rest
of them. You all seem to think that she is wonderfully clever because
she happened to kn