"Shush!" I shouted through the din of battle. "Man and wife to wrangle like this! Think of your good name. Think of the servants. Think of the child." Cecilia caught the last phrase and the noise subsided. "Yes," she said, breathless but calm, "there's the hitch in your plans, Master John--the child. If I go I take Christopher with me." "That you don't. Christopher belongs to me. He is part of my estate--in law. You _can't_ take him." "Can't I?" said Cecilia. "Am I his mother or am I not?" "Who pays his school-fees?" said John. "What's his name? Whose house does he live in?" Cecilia was gathering herself for another offensive when the door opened and Christopher came in. We looked at him and he paused in embarrassment. "What are you all looking at me for?" he asked, smiling uneasily; "I haven't done anything." "He belongs to _me_," said Cecilia suddenly. "He belongs to _me_," said John with decision. Christopher knows his parents fairly well. "Whatever are you doing?" he asked with a chuckle. "Come here," said John. Christopher advanced and stood between his mother and his father. "I don't know what I'm inspected to do," he said. "Christopher," said John, "to whom do you belong--to your mother or to me? Think well, my child." Christopher wrinkled his nose obediently and thought for a moment. "Why," he said, his face clearing, "we all b'long to each other." * * * * * "'The Heart of a Child,'" I said; "the beautifullest love-story ever told. Featuring Little Randolph, the Boy Wonder." They took no notice. They were all three busy rehearsing the final reconciliation scene. * * * * * [Illustration: _The Wife._ "MUST WE ALWAYS 'AVE CHAMPAGNE, 'ARRY? IT DON'T REELY SUIT ME." _The Profiteer._ "OF COURSE WE MUST. THEY MIGHT THINK WE COULDN'T AFFORD IT."] * * * * * Our Erudite Contemporaries. From a special golf correspondent:-- "I cannot remember the Latin for a daisy, but most emphatically 'Delanda est.'" _Daily Paper._ O Carthego! "'Pol-u-me-tis.' The Greek brings back the thundrous verse of Virgil. Echoes from the twilight of the gods."--_Daily Paper._ Poor old Götterdämmerung. * * * * * Another Sex-Problem. "White Milking Shorthorn Bull for Sale, £50."--_Farmers' Gazette._ * * * * * "A Good Canvasser wanted for Credit Gentlemen's wear; ready to wear and made to measure clothing."--_Daily Paper._ "One," in fact, "that was made a shape for his clothes, and, if ADAM had not fallen, had lived to no purpose." * * * * * "To-morrow afternoon, the Dansant, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets inclusive 3s. 6d. Dansant (only) 2s. 6d."--_Provincial Paper._ The "the" seems cheap at a shilling. * * * * * THE ART OF POETRY. II.