ead_!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, he flew at the butcher-boy and bit him, and he bit me, too, when I
tried to get him off, so I had to have him destroyed. You warned me that
he snapped, but you didn't tell me that he was downright dangerous. I
shall have to pay the boy something heavy by way of compensation, so you
will have to go without those buckles that you wanted to have for Easter;
also I shall have to go to Vienna to consult Dr. Schroeder, who is a
specialist on dog-bites, and you will have to come too. I have sent what
remains of Louis to Rowland Ward to be stuffed; that will be my Easter
gift to you instead of the buckles. For Heaven's sake, Lena, weep, if
you really feel it so much; anything would be better than standing there
staring as if you thought I had lost my reason."

Lena Strudwarden did not weep, but her attempt at laughing was an
unmistakable failure.

THEGUESTS

"The landscape seen from our windows is certainly charming," said
Annabel; "those cherry orchards and green meadows, and the river winding
along the valley, and the church tower peeping out among the elms, they
all make a most effective picture. There's something dreadfully sleepy
and languorous about it, though; stagnation seems to be the dominant
note. Nothing ever happens here; seedtime and harvest, an occasional
outbreak of measles or a mildly destructive thunderstorm, and a little
election excitement about once in five years, that is all that we have to
modify the monotony of our existence. Rather dreadful, isn't it?"

"On the contrary," said Matilda, "I find it soothing and restful; but
then, you see, I've lived in countries where things do happen, ever so
many at a time, when you're not ready for them happening all at once."

"That, of course, makes a difference," said Annabel.

"I have never forgotten," said Matilda, "the occasion when the Bishop of
Bequar paid us an unexpected visit; he was on his way to lay the
foundation-stone of a mission-house or something of the sort."

"I thought that out there you were always prepared for emergency guests
turning up," said Annabel.

"I was quite prepared for half a dozen Bishops," said Matilda, "but it
was rather disconcerting to find out after a little conversation that
this particular one was a distant cousin of mine, belonging to a branch
of the family that had quarrelled bitterly and offensively with our
branch about a Crown Derby dessert service; they got it, and we o