And what of Maria, the charming, fascinating, much injured Maria? For several years she is lost, and then we hear of her marriage at Rome to "John Tubbs, Esq., of London," and once again she vanishes, only to turn up many years later at Cannes. She is a widow now, and a model of all the virtues. Who so staid and respectable as Madam? Who so charitable to the poor? Few, it is to be feared, will have recognised in that handsome old lady, so regular in her attendance at the services of the English Church, the beauteous Maria Cotherstone whose name was once on the lips of everybody from one end of Europe to the other. It nearly happened, indeed, that she went down to her grave with all her scandalous, feverish past forgotten, leaving behind her only the fragrant memory of her later life. But I have saved her. It is a queer story, quite interesting enough to recall. * * * * * THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. [Illustration: _Mistress._ "That's a nicely-made dress you have on, Jane. It's like the new parlourmaid's, isn't it?" _Jane (a close student of the fashion catalogues)._ "Oh no, Ma'am, _this_ is _quite_ a different creation."] * * * * * CHARIVARIA. It is not only misfortune that makes strange bedfellows. Both Earl Beauchamp and Sir Joseph Beecham appear in the recent Honours List. *** By-the-by, it is denied that Sir Joseph Beecham was in any way responsible for the Government's "Pills for Earthquakes," by which it was hoped to avert the Irish crisis. *** A New York cable announces that the Duke of Manchester is interesting himself in a cinematograph proposition of a philanthropic nature, and that the company will be known as the "Church and School Social Service Corporation for the Advancement of Moral and Religious Education and Social Uplift Work through the medium of the Higher Art of the Moving Picture." It will of course be possible for the man in a hurry to call it, _tout court_, the "C.&S.S.S.C.F.T.A.O.M.&R.E.&S.U.W.T.T.M.O.T.H.A.O.T.M.P." *** The penny off the income tax came just in time. It enabled several Liberal plutocrats to buy a rose on Alexandra Day. *** The balance-sheet of the German Company which had been running a Zeppelin airship passenger service has just been issued, and shows a loss of L10,000 on the year's working. This is not surprising, the difficulty which all aircraft experience to keep their balance. *** At the launch of the liner _Bismarck_ last week, the bottle of wine--which was thrown by the Countess Hannah von Bismarck missed the vessel, whereupon the Kaiser hauled back the bottle, and with his proverbial good luck hit the target. ***