der of their nativity. The younger sister dare not contemplate
matrimony until the elder sister has been led to the altar. It is
impossible for a young and attractive girl to make a desirable match
leaving a maiden sister marooned on the market. She must cooperate with
her parents and with the elder sister to clear the way.

As a rule this law encourages earnest getting-together in every
household and results in a clearing up of the entire stock of eligible
daughters. But think of the unhappy lot of an adorable and much-coveted
maiden who finds herself wedged in behind something unattractive and
shelf-worn! Jeneka was thus pocketed. She could do nothing except fold
her hands and patiently wait for some miraculous intervention.

In Morovenia the discreet marrying age is about sixteen. Jeneka was
eighteen--still young enough and of a most ravishing weight, but the
slim princess stood as a slight, yet seemingly insurmountable barrier
between her and all hopes of conventional happiness.

Count Malagaski did not know that the shameful fact of Kalora's
thinness was being whispered among the young men of Morovenia. When the
daughters were out for their daily carriage-ride both wore flowing
robes. In the case of Kalora, this augmented costume was intended to
conceal the absence of noble dimensions.

It is not good form in Morovenia for a husband or father to discuss his
home life, or to show enthusiasm on the subject of mere woman; but the
Count, prompted by a fretful desire to dispose of his rapidly maturing
offspring, often remarked to the high-born young gentlemen of his
acquaintance that Kalora was a most remarkable girl and one possessed of
many charms, leaving them to infer, if they cared to do so, that
possibly she weighed at least one hundred and eighty pounds.

[Illustration: Papova rejoiced greatly]

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These casual comments did not seem to arouse any burning curiosity
among the young men, and up to the day of Kalora's nineteenth
anniversary they had not had the effect of bringing to the father any of
those guarded inquiries which, under the oriental custom, are always
preliminary to an actual proposal of marriage.

Count Selim Malagaski had a double reason for wishing to see Kalora
married. While she remained at home he knew that he would be second in
authority. There is an occidental misapprehension to the effect that
every woman beyond the borders of the Levant is a languorous and waxen
lily, fl