ou will ask,
why I am writing to you, when both you and I are so busy--when we are
both preparing for matriculation? When we have so little spare time at
our disposal?

I will tell you. The fact is, he accuses me of ignorance in the
biographical section of my studies. He gave me the history of a
gentleman who used a blue dye for his moustache and murdered his wives
with impunity. Then he related the adventures of a lady who slept for
a hundred years from the wound of a spinning needle. I had to confess
(although a constant reader of the _Lancet_) I had never heard of the
case before. Then he recounted the adventures of a traveller who seems
to have had a life of considerable interest. This person obtained
quite a number of diamonds, with the assistance of a huge bird called
a Roc. Then he had much to say about a dwarf who defeated (in really
gallant style) several men of abnormally large stature. He laughed
when I had to confess that I had never heard of these people before.
He gave me their names. The wife-slaughterer was called _Bluebeard_;
the lady who slumbered for a hundred years, _The Sleeping Beauty_ (I
suppose she preferred to keep her anonymity); the traveller's name was
_Sindbad_, and the dwarf was _Jack the Giant-Killer_. Have you heard
of any of these people?

Your affectionate Cousin, MARY.

LETTER II.

(_Reply to Same, from Miss Rosa Blackbord._)

_Algebra Lodge._

MY DEAR MARY,

As you are many weeks my junior (to be precise, exactly two months),
I hasten to answer your letter. I have searched all my Biographical
Dictionaries, but cannot find the people of whom you are in search.
As for myself, I have never heard of _Bluebeard_, know nothing of _The
Sleeping Beauty_, and am sceptical of the existence of _Sindbad_ and
_Jack the Giant-Killer_. Like _Mrs. Prig_, who doubted the existence
of _Mrs. Harris_, "I don't believe there were no such persons." By
the way, you ought to read DICKENS. He is distinctly funny, and I can
quite understand his amusing our grandmothers. I generally turn to his
works after a long day with HOMER or EURIPIDES.

Your affectionate Cousin, ROSA.

* * * * *

"NE PLUS ULSTER."--Decidedly, Ulster can't go beyond "its last," or
rather, its latest, most utter utterances. So far, "words, words,
words;" but from words to blows there is a long interval, especially
when their supply of breath having been considerably exhausted, there
is not much