I ought, by the way, to have said that, in a spasm of chagrin, she chokes herself with the pearl necklace which lent the only touch of superfluity to her night attire, and was carried out--but not up the main staircase. Thus ends this sordid tragedy that so well illustrates that quality in Herr Strauss to which my guide refers when he speaks of his realization of a "poignant longing for divine cheerfulness." O. S. * * * * * [Illustration: "Excuse me, Sir, but would you like to buy a nice little dawg?" "No, thanks very much. He looks as though he would bite." "'E won't bite yer _if you buy 'im_, Guv'ner."] * * * * * ENIGMA. My love to me is cold, And no more seeks my gaze; I wonder why! The smile of welcome that I loved of old No longer lights her eye. One little week ago I asked no surer guide than Cupid's chart; I said, "Your eyes reveal the depths below, And I can read your heart." She let her shy gaze fall, And smiling asked, "Is then my face a screed, My brow an open love-letter, where all The world my thoughts may read?" Said I, "The world, I'll vow, Is blind! Myself alone may see the signs, And know the message written on your brow: I read between the lines." My dear to me is cold; Gone somewhere is the love-light from her eye; And, when our ways meet, stately she doth hold Her course. I wonder why. * * * * * "Curiously, the Australian Minister of Defence in the last Parliament bore the same name as the Prime Minister in that which has just been dissolved." _Westminster Gazette._ A similar curious coincidence happened in England, the War Minister in the last Parliament bearing the same name as the present Lord Chancellor. * * * * * "MEN FOR THE ANTARCTIC. 105 Canadian Dogs to go with Sir E. Shackleton." _Daily Express._ A gay lot, these Canadians. * * * * * A SCANDALMONGRIAN ROMANCE. (_By Francis Scribble._) [_The following article, specially written for us by the Author of "Ten Frail Beauties of the Restoration," "Tales Told by a Royal Washerwoman," etc., is another important contribution to the literature of the Royal Dirty-Linen Bag._]