"Rather young for such work, is he not, Baskerville?'

"No, my lord, I don't think so. Mr. Minton is grave and steady beyond his years, and the firm has very great confidence in him.'

'Well, I will trust to you, and I think you fully understand all that is wanted. I would rather not give myself the fatigue of entering into explanations with this young man, if you think you thoroughly understand what I want.'

"If you will leave it to me, my lord, I will undertake that Mr. Minton shall receive full instructions. Just see if Lord Valdane's carriage is at the door, will you, Mr. Minton ?'

"I returned with the requisite information; and his lordship, after being carefully wrapped up, took the arm of one of his men, and went to his carriage.

"Mr. Baskerville then asked me to shut the door and sit down beside him, and proceeded to give me full and complete directions as to how I was to act.

"It appeared that Lord Valdane had three daughters, besides several sons. The youngest of his daughters, when just sixteen, had caused great trouble and distress to her family by falling in love with a violinist, who had come constantly to the house to give one of her brothers lessons on his instrument. This had been discovered about a year before, and had given rise to great recriminations, and the young lady had shown an amount of obstinacy and temper which had quite alarmed her friends, so foreign was it, apparently, to her nature. She had utterly declined to give up her lover, and had openly declared her intention of holding any communication with him that opportunities might offer. Under these circumstances, and in consideration of her youth, her father determined to send her to a school kept by an English lady in a village about fifteen miles from Brussels, and hoped that a year or two of entire change and absence from home would make her get over and forget an affection begun at so early an age. She was accordingly sent to Mrs. Slater's school, but that lady had just written to Lord Valdane, at the end of the first year, to say that she could no longer undertake the education of Miss Valdane, as her conduct was of such a kind as utterly to destroy those relations which should exist between mistress and pupil. Lord Valdane had therefore determined to bring her back to England, and he the more readily consented to this arrangement, as he had had information that Mr. Arne had left this country for America. Having no servant to whom he could trust

the duty of escorting his daughter home, Lord Valdane had come to Mr. Baskerville, with whom he banked, to ask that some confidential clerk might be sent to Antwerp to meet Miss Valdane, and bring her home to her father's house in Eaton Square. A servant would be sent with her as far as Antwerp, where she would be met by the person chosen to escort her.

"I asked Mr. Baskerville if it was thought that the young lady would return home willingly.

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"They imagine that she will do so,' said he; she has complained in her letters, which have been very few, of her "transportation," as she called it. It is most probable that her youthful passion will have died out. This fellow, Arne, is described to me as an effeminate-looking, though elegant man, but wanting in many of those manly attributes which are to most women the chief attraction in a man's character.'

"Mr. Baskerville told me to come to him again for a paper of instructions that he would give me, as well as a letter from Lord Valdane to his daughter, directing her to place herself under my charge. He also told me that she would be accompanied by her maid, a young girl, and too inexperienced to be trusted with the duty of an escort.

"I returned to my seat and thought over all that I had heard, and all I was to do. I confess that I did not like the work; it was not of a kind that I had bargained for on entering a bank, and seemed to me to be more the duty of a superior servant than of a gentleman. I knew, however, how much depended upon my making myself useful to the firm, and so I determined to put my pride into my pocket.

"Before I left the office I got my paper of instructions, and returned home to read them, having first obtained from the cashier, by Mr. Baskerville's orders, a sum sufficient to defray all possible expenses, those of the young lady and her maid included. I found that I was to start for Dover by that night's mail, and go by the first boat to Ostend, and thence to Antwerp. I was instructed to be very firm with Miss Valdane, and was advised to avoid any attempts at intimacy on her part. I was simply to be her escort, and as far as possible to relieve her of all trouble. She would expect me, as a letter had been written to Mrs. Slater desiring her to send the young lady to Antwerp, under charge of a servant." 'By Jove, though!" said Herbert Engledue, "wouldn't I just like a little thing of

that sort to do!"

"Wait until you hear the end of my story, and you will think differently," said Mr. Min

ton; no one likes to be fooled, and that was what happened to me.

"I started, according to my instructions, by the night mail for Dover, and at one o'clock the next day found myself at the door of the Hotel St. Antoine at Antwerp. I inquired if Miss Valdane had arrived, and was asked to step up to a drawing-room on the second floor. No one was in the room when I entered, but in a few minutes a respectable-looking middleaged woman came in, with an expression of anxiety on her countenance.

"Are you the gentleman from London, sir?' she said.

"I am,' said I. 'When will it be convenient for Miss Valdane to set out on her journey?'

"'Oh, sir,' said she, 'Miss Valdane is very unwell, and has been obliged to go to bed. This has upset all the plans that had been arranged, and I don't know what to do.'

"When did this illness come on?' I asked. "Why, sir, Miss Valdane seemed very well when we left, but as we got near Antwerp she complained of headache, and was obliged to go to bed directly we got to the hotel. The worst of it is,' said she, after a pause,' that I must return by this evening's train.'

"The young lady has her maid, I understand?' said I.

"Oh, yes, sir, she is with her, certainly; but she is young and flighty, and I haven't much confidence in her.'

"Has Miss Valdane seen any medical man ?' said I.

"Oh no, sir, she wouldn't hear of one being sent for.'

"Well,' said I, 'it cannot be helped; you must return to your mistress, and I must wait here until Miss Valdane is able to travel.'

"In the course of the afternoon, and after Mrs. Slater's servant had left, I sent up my compliments to Miss Valdane, and requested to know how she was.

"Miss Valdane's compliments, she was so much better that she hoped to be downstairs in the course of an hour.'

"This was good news, and I immediately set about inquiries as to trains and boat. I found that by leaving Ostend at half-past three the next morning, the young lady could be at her father's house in time for lunch the same day. I accordingly made the requisite arrangements, and awaited Miss Valdane's appearance.

"Her maid shortly afterwards came down with a message to know if it would be convenient to me to have an interview with her mistress. I, of course, assented, and directly afterwards a young lady came into the room.

"I bowed, and looked at my charge with

some curiosity. Her appearance surprised me. She was dark and had large tender-looking eyes, but in other respects was by no means good-looking, and seemed to want the ease and savoir faire that I should have imagined a girl in her rank of life would have possessed. She was well and handsomely dressed, but was decidedly not elegant, and there was a want of freshness and youthfulness about her that made her anything but an attractivelooking girl. She addressed me in a constrained and rather unmusical voice.

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Oh! by the way,' said she, there's a schoolfellow of mine and a great friend going with us. She wanted to go home, so we agreed to travel together.'

"How strange, thought I, that the servant should have made no mention of this other pupil. But I suppose she was so much engrossed with Miss Valdane's illness that she could think of nothing else.

"I was not aware,' said I, 'that you would have a companion; but I shall be very happy to be of use to her.'

I'll call her down,' she said, and going to the door she called, or rather shouted, 'Amy, come down.'

"She forgets, I thought, that she is in a crowded hotel, and not at home. I heard a light tripping step on the stairs, and after some little giggling outside the door, Miss Valdane came in with a very pretty, mischievous-looking blonde, who could not present the semblance of gravity when she was introduced to me.

"What on earth are you laughing at. Amy?' said my charge.

"You mustn't mind me, Mr. Minton!' said Miss Manvers; 'I'm rather silly, I'm afraid.'

"Rather silly!' said Miss Valdane; 'he thinks you a little tom-fool, and he's perfectly right in thinking so,' and before I had time to put in a disclaimer to this opinion, she added, 'I don't know what you people are going to do, but I'm going to dine.'

"Shall we dine at once, Miss Valdane?' said I, and then we can leave Antwerp at half-past seven, catch the night mail at Ostend, and be in London by mid-day to-morrow.' "Just as you like,' said she.

"I ordered dinner for three, and that

finished, the young ladies went to their rooms to prepare for the journey.

"I could hear Miss Valdane whistling as she packed, and I must say that the young lady's collection of tunes was very varied, if it was not very select.

"I could not help wishing myself back again at the bank and my hands clean washed of my eccentric charge. Miss Valdane embarrassed me very much as we were leaving the hotel by interfering with the various directions that I gave, and when we got to the station she had an altercation with a porter, which exhausted all my rather scanty stock of French to set right. Miss Manvers remonstrated with her friend, but always as if more amused by her vagaries than annoyed.

"It is needless for me to detail all the worrying events of the journey to Ostend and the voyage to Dover. During the latter, the sea certainly did subdue the young lady's spirits, and she lay on a bench on deck with a stiffish glass of brandy and water beside her, and held her tongue. Miss Manvers was a riddle to me as well as her friend. In a great deal that she said and did, and in her manners and address, she showed the education and refinement of a lady, and yet she encouraged rather than subdued her friend's eccentricities by her evident amusement.

"Upon our arrival at Dover, I found that the next train to London did not leave for a couple of hours, so, after giving directions for the examination of our luggage, I went with the two girls to the Lord Warden, and ordered breakfast. Here Miss Manvers announced her intention of leaving us. She had friends living at Dover, with whom she was going to stay, and she would go to them after we had left, as she wished to see as much of her dear Constantia as possible.

"After we had had breakfast, Constantia asked me to walk out and see the place, as she wished to have some private conversation with her friend. I accordingly dawdled away a half-hour on the pier, and then returned and found that we must start at once if we wished to catch the train. The two girls parted in the most affectionate matter, Miss Manvers seeming more amused than ever at the extraordinary expressions of affection indulged in by Miss Valdane, whose conduct would have brought down the house' in a melodrama.

"We went to the station together, Miss Valdane having left her maid to look after her friend and come on by the next train, another thing which would have astonished me, if I had had any capacity for that feeling left. Upon my asking her what luggage she had, she said,

"Accordingly I found a not very large portmanteau, which Miss Valdane said was hers. "Just see and have it put into our compartment,' said she; and, I say, tell the guard to let us have the carriage to ourselves; you're not afraid of me, and I'm sure I'm not afraid of you.'

"I was going to disregard this last order, as I had no wish whatever for a tête-à-tête, but Constantia came up and gave it herself, together with half-a-crown, which had the effect which she desired.

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"Well, no,' I said; not much.'

"I stared blankly at her while she took a cigar-case out of her pocket, and selecting one, lighted it, and settled herself comfortably in her seat.

"I sat as far as I could from her, and looking out of window, tried to forget her. "You're a very pleasant companion, I must say,' said she, after a time. 'Come, say something, man, and don't leave me languishing here. Here, we might have a very pretty little bit of flirting, if you would only say tit to my tat.'

"Excuse me, Miss Valdane,' I said; 'but it was business, and not pleasure, that gave me the task of escorting you home; and I shall make no apology for saying that I have had no pleasure whatever in the matter. You will, therefore, permit me to finish my business in the way I think best, which is to hand you over to the care of Lord Valdane with as much despatch and as little talking as possible.'

"If you won't talk you must work,' said she. 'You surely won't object to oblige a lady so far as to take that portmanteau from under the seat, and unstrap it.'

"I complied, to save further words. She threw her keys at me, and said,

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Unlock, and throw open the fatal chest.' "I did so, and saw the usual contents of a gentleman's portmanteau. There were the neatly-folded shirts, the brushes and shavingtackle fitted in here and there, visions' of very gentlemanly-looking garments below, boots guiltless of the feminine foot, and, in fact, nothing whatever that ought to belong to a lady's wardrobe. I was really rather pleased than otherwise, and said,—

"You've managed to bring some one else's portmanteau.'

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'No, I haven't, you clever man; I'm rather given to foreign customs, and affect, what you, you mass of propriety, would consider eccentricities in my costume. However, before I make the requisite changes to fit me for meeting dear papa, let me tell you a little story, as you seem in want of amusement.

"Your clever people in London, backed by the wishes of Lord Valdane, sent you over to Antwerp to bring home that nobleman's refractory daughter, who, it was hoped, had forgotten her disgraceful engagement.-Give me those balmorals, will you? Thanks.-You, accordingly, being a very clever young man and an admirable accountant, were of course eminently fitted for the work, and were therefore chosen to do it.-Just see if you can find a blue-striped flannel shirt among those. Thanks. Hang it over the arm of the seat to air.-Well, your noble client wrote to the schoolmistress what would have been a most pleasant letter, if it had not been quite so dictatorial; and he also wrote to his affectionate daughter, congratulating her on having recovered from her little attack of love, and saying something disparaging of the poor lover, who was in America.-If you will take that coat and trou

Well, those things under

it, and hang them to the roof, the creases will come out. You won't?-that's rude, and not proper conduct to an unprotected woman. But, to continue my story, as I see you are getting restless :-By a wonderful chance this forlorn damsel saw her unfortunate lover, shortly after she got papa's note. She shouldn't have done it, but she did. They put their heads together—they'd done that before, but they did it in a different manner now, and they made up a little plan. The young lady went down to Antwerp under charge, and she got so poorly as they neared the station, and her head was so bad, and she had, oh! such a pain here, and ah! such a twitch there, that to bed she must go as soon as she reached the hotel. The elegant and polite escort arrived, and was met by a domestic whose face showed longitude, if her instructions did not admit much latitude.-By the way, where do you get boot-laces? Look at this thing, broken off in the middle.-Well, the maid told her story, and the youth listened, and then home goes the maid, leaving the youth in sole charge. Shortly afterwards down comes Miss Valdane, recovered and charming, introduces Miss Manvers-more charming still. They dine, this delightful trio, and away they go.The advantage of this apparatus is, that you bang up the glass like this, and then you can shave at leisure. See what a good lather this

makes.-Well, our three Graces arrive at Dover, and then dear Miss Manvers makes her bow, and the other pair of turtle-doves go off together, only-and now, please attend, for I come to the point of the story-only Miss Valdane, for whom Mr. Minton was sent, and over whom he was to exercise the tenderness of a parent with the authority of a guardian, does not accompany that gentleman to London.' 'Then, who are you?' I almost shrieked. "Felix Arne; and now, my good fellow, the farce is played out, and I'll take off this trumpery.'

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"I fell back in my seat, and watched, with dizzy brain, the shedding of the feminine and assumption of the masculine attire.

"You infernal rascal!' at last I said.

"Now I'm not going to mind anything you say, for I dare say you are rather hurt. The thing was well arranged, and has answered capitally. You can tell your employer that it's no sort of use making any further fuss about me. I was married to his daughter some months ago, but did not intend it to be known yet, only his precipitancy altered

matters.

Some day we'll tell him how we managed it. We determined to have some fun out of the gentleman sent to fetch Mrs. Arne home, and, as he had been so good as to pay both our fares back to England, we could not do less than provide him with company to town. Will you play a game of billiards with me while I wait for the next train to Dover ? Don't say no, if you'd rather not. Tickets? That gentleman has mine, guard. Ta-ta! Sorry you've no time for a game; best love to papa-in-law.' And taking his portmanteau, he sauntered down the station.

"How I got my story told at head-quarters I don't know. Mr. Baskerville first frowned, then smiled, and finally roared. I entreated him to keep my failure from the other clerks, and you three lads are the first who know it." Did you ever hear anything more about them ?" said I.

Yes; it was not such a very bad affair, after all. He was a gentleman by birth, and some uncle of his, delighted at having an Honourable for a niece, left them some money, and I believe he settled down as a country gentleman. Lord Valdane has, however, I understand, never forgiven them; and now, boys, Home, sweet home.""

I thanked our good-natured chief for his story; and, when we met the same morning at a later hour, we youngsters could scarcely believe that the grave and sedate gentleman, who looked as if " "" money articles were his only literature, was the same who had been the hero of the story of which he himself was also the relater. W. E. WILCOX.