entre-nous_, by that means to get more out of them).

"I have several idiosyncrasies and failings, of which my
master (_pro tem._) is trying to correct me, but finds it
rather hard work, for I am not so easily brought out of them.
I have a will of my own, but Sully says: 'Train up a dog in
the way it should go, and he will not depart, &c., &c.'--and
Sully is right.

"Don't you think it is a bad plan to wash me with soap? I
think it deters me from licking my skin, and consequently
from having those ideas of cleanliness engendered within me
which are so necessary to every well-bred dog moving in good
society!

"I want to get back to my bone, but Sully says I must first
deliver a message from him. You are to give his love to your
dear parents (in which I heartily join), and tell them how
grieved he was that he did not see them to wish them 'God
speed' before they left England, and how it hurt him to think
that a long, long time would perhaps elapse before he should
see them again.

"And now, my dear master, I must say 'Good-bye.' Much love in
few words, in which Sully joins me.

"Believe me, ever your

"Attached and faithful dog,

[Illustration: Carry

X

his mark]

"F. MOSCHELES, Esq."

* * * * *

And now I come to du Maurier's last letter--the best, as I am sure
every right-minded person will admit. I have kept it "pour la bonne
bouche" (excuse my quoting French. "Will me not of it," as our
neighbours say; there are unassailable precedents for such quoting,
you know--or ought to know). The letter in question speaks of an event
so momentous, that of all events it is the one most worthy to "be
marked with a white, white stone"; and marked it was, if not with a
stone, with satins and laces and a veil and white orange blossoms.

"Come and be introduced to the future Mrs. Kicky," it said. "She
intends to celebrate her 21st birthday by a small dance. There will
be friends and pretty girls, 'en veux tu, en viola.' So rek-lect,
olf'lah, Tuesday, at half-past seven."

[Illustration]

The drawing shows how I was introduced, and how graciously I was
received.

The letter needs a word of explanation, as it speaks of the "future
Mrs. 'Kicky,'" and I have not yet mentioned that Kicky was but another
name for du Maurier. He got it at an early period of his life. Just
as any othe