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Ah! I shall have a better partner soon! Wait till you see my globe-trotter! He won’t sit all day drinking tea, not when I am about.’

“‘Now, Mrs. Austin, you are too hard on a fellow. Haven’t I been working for you in the sweat of my brow all the morning, and now you turn me off for that other fellow. I’m sure he can’t play worth a cent.’

“‘Yes, he can! Mr. Campbell can do anything. He’s coming next week, so you had better make hay while the sun shines, I can tell you. Good-bye, Miss Lauder. I must fight this set out to-day; but I’ll come and see you very soon, and you must show me all your pretty things. Ta-ta!’

“This was the last of Mrs. Austin, except that a voice was heard in the dim distance as she disappeared down the garden walk, ‘Great Scott! I’ve torn my lace on that horrid nail, and it’s all your fault, Swanny!’

“If this is a specimen of society in Green Street, I don’t think we shall be at all dull, and it will take more than the whole of the Granbys’ associated deadweight to keep us down! The mail is waiting—good-bye!