_Edwin._ Believe me, it is not pride. For myself, I would gladly brave the censure of the world, and if in after years men should say in scorn he married her though there was nothing against her, I should still be happy, knowing I had your love. But my father, that dear old man in his quiet, country vicarage. Think of it? It is too horrible! _Angelina_ (_with bowed head._) You are right, I had forgotten your father. _Edwin._ How could I ever look into that sweet, wrinkled face, and meet those reverend eyes, knowing that I was asking him to receive as a daughter one who had never even once strayed from the paths of virtue? _Angelina._ I see it all now, good-bye. _Edwin._ Good-bye. _Angelina_ (_as he is going_). EDWIN, come back. _Edwin._ Ah! don't torture me, I can bear no more! _Angelina._ But what if I were to tell you that this confession, so humiliating to us both, was but a ruse to test the strength of your devotion. _Edwin._ Ah, don't raise a false hope within me, only to plunge me again in the abyss of despair. _Angelina._ But this is no false hope. _Edwin_ (_eagerly_). What do you mean? _Angelina_ (_burying her head on his shoulder_). I mean that I been no better than I should be. _Edwin_ (_embracing her_). My own true love, nothing can part us now. _Curtain._ * * * * * Crackers. The youthful but indiscriminating would-be smoker will find unending bliss in the joys of _Our Smoking-Room Concert_, his pleasure though commencing with a bang won't end in smoke. Feminine hearts who long for the sunny south will revel in the _Riviera Cosaque_. Both these are warranted to "go off," through the inventive genius of our "crack" G. SPARAGNAPANE. * * * * * THE TRUISMS OF LIFE. (_By the Right Hon. the Author of "The Platitudes of Life," M.P., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D._) CHAPTER II.--_De Quibusdam Aliis._ "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"; so runs the witty aphorism; and modern bacteriologists "explain clearly the reason, _and_ show why it is so,"[1] the italics not being in the original. The use of water is an effectual element in cleanliness. Men have been known to brush their teeth with it. Of soaps there are many; but water is practically one. "Πάντα ῥεῖ," said THALES. And, again, "There is a tide in the affairs of men,"[2] as Lord BYRON put it, in confirmation of SHAKSPEARE'S previous statement. [1] Lubbock. [2] Don Juan. Fresh air contributes largely to the health. "_In aëre salus_," said the Romans; though some, for want of knowledge, have rendered this, "There is safety in flight"; and others, for want of the diæresis, have supposed it to mean, "Tip a policeman, and he will carry you over the crossing."