We were quite unprepared for what happened, believing that our poor friend was merely over-wrought and weary. But as the words "good- night" fell softly upon our ears Gloriana sighed peacefully--and died. "Who is this woman?" said Miriam for the second time, thinking that Gloriana had fallen asleep. The Doctor was not so deceived. He pressed forward, and laid his trembling fingers upon the wrist of the dead, and then bent his head till it rested upon the breast of her he had counted a scandalous sinner. When he confronted us the tears were rolling down his face. "May God forgive me!" he cried, falling upon his knees. "This woman, Miriam, was your mother." V BUMBLEPUPPY Bumblepuppy is a synonym of whist played in defiance of certain time- honoured conventions and principles. Ajax said with reason that Johnnie Kapus, the nephew of our neighbour, old man Kapus, played the game of life in such a sorry, blundering fashion that he marvelled why his uncle gave him house-room. Ajax christened Johnnie--Bumble-puppy. Once we hired Johnnie to work for us at the rate of half-a-dollar a day. A heavy rain-storm had just taken place, and my brother insisted that Johnnie was the right man to fill up the "wash-outs" in and about the corrals. He was strong, big, docile as a cow, and he lived within a few hundred yards of the ranch-house. Johnnie was provided with a spade and a wheelbarrow, and led to a gaping hole beneath the barn. I explained that the rain had washed away the soil and made the hole, which must be filled up before more rain should fall. "Wheer shall I git the dirt from?" Johnnie demanded. "From the most convenient place," said I. Ajax and I returned to the barn an hour later. The hole was filled; but another hole, from which Johnnie had taken the dirt, as large as the first, seriously threatened the under-pinning of the building. Ajax swore. Johnnie looked at me, as he drawled out: "The boss told me to git the dirt wheer 'twas mos' handy." Ajax grinned. "I see. It was the boss' fault, not yours. Now then, Johnnie, the work must be done all over again." "If you say so, boys, I'll do it." As we moved away Ajax pointed out the propriety of giving explicit directions. At dinner time we came back to the barn. Johnnie had taken the earth out of the first hole and put it back again into the second! "You star-spangled fool!" said Ajax. "You tole me," replied Johnnie, "that the work mus' be did all over agen--an' I done it." "Directions," I remarked, "may be made too explicit." After this incident, we always spoke of Johnnie as Bumblepuppy. Some six months later Alethea-Belle told us that Johnnie Kapus was doing "chores" for the widow Janssen; milking her cow, taking care of the garden, and drawing water. Upon inquiry, however, we learned that the cow was drying up, the well had caved in, and the garden produced no weeds, it is true, and no vegetables! "Why doesn't the widow sack him?" Ajax asked.