"Now, ladies, we come to one of the principal events of the evening, the bidding for this very rich and magnificent brass, hand-beaten, richly- chased, Oriental, ornamental flower-pot. We have several flower-pots in our catalogue, but none to be compared for one moment to the very superior article which you now see before you. It is safe to say that no student, even in her third year, can boast of a flower-pot to equal this lot in either quality or design. The possession of it will in itself ensure fame for its fortunate owner. Let me have a handsome bid, if you please, ladies, to start this valuable article. Half a crown!!! A lady, whose ignorance we can only deplore, offers me half a crown for a genuine antique brass! I am thankful that in such a large and enlightened audience such an error is not likely to be repeated. Three shillings. _Thank_ you, madam. And six. Four shillings--four shillings. Freshers who neglect to take advantage of this opportunity will be compelled to content themselves with one of these common china articles to my left. A flowerpot is a necessary article of furniture without which no room is complete. What is home without an aspidistra? You laugh, ladies, but you can find no answer to that question. And six! Five shillings! The raw material for this masterpiece must have cost many times this sum. Five--five--no advance on five. The lady in green, Joshua. Take the lady's address!" The auctioneer put up her hand to her head and patted the rose-coloured ribbon into place. Inspired by the laughing appreciation of her sallies, her cheeks had flushed to the same bright shade, and with her sparkling eyes and alert, graceful movements she made a delightful and attractive figure, at which the Freshers stared in undisguised delight. "I adore her!" whispered Darsie in her friend's ear. "Decent sort!" croaked Hannah the undemonstrative, and then by a common impulse their glance passed on to rest on Helen Ross's set, supercilious face. "I loathe her," came the second whisper. "Mean thing--jealousy!" croaked Hannah once more, and turned her attention to the business in hand. After the china flower-pots had been disposed of, a trio of basket- chairs gave an impetus to the bidding, as the truth of the auctioneer's words went home to every heart.