"Still," ventured Raikes, astonished at this curious rejoinder, "you have some safe depository for such valuables." "Doubtless," replied the other drily; "but I have a few in my room now, and, by the way, they are pretty fair specimens." "Ah!" cried Raikes. "May I see them?" "Why not?" assented the Sepoy. "In the meantime," he continued, as he inserted his hand in his waistcoat pocket, "what do you think of this?" and describing a glittering semicircle in the air with some brilliant object he held in his grasp, he deposited upon the table a sapphire of such extraordinary size and beauty, that Raikes, able as he was to realize the great value of this gleaming condensation, stared stupidly at it for a moment, and then, with a cry of almost gibbering avarice, caught the gem in his trembling hands and burglarized it with his greedy eyes. As Raikes, oblivious of all else, continued to gaze upon the brilliant with repulsive fascination, a peculiar change transformed the face of the Sepoy. He directed upon the unconscious countenance of his companion a glance of terrible intensity, moving his hands the while in a weird, sinuous rhythm, until presently, satisfied with the vacant expression which had replaced the eager look of the moment before in the eyes of the tremulous Raikes, the Sepoy began, with an indescribably easy, somnolent modulation, the following strange recital: (To be continued on Dickey No. 2.) * * * * * "Thunder and lightning!" cried Dennis as he reached the exasperating announcement in italics at the bottom of the dickey back: "Continued on Dickey No. 2." "What th' div--now, what do you think of that? An' it's me crazy to hear what that meerschaum-colored divil was a-goin' to say. 'Dickey No. 2.' Why, that's the one I have to wear to-day, an' to think the story's on the back of it." Truly was Dennis harassed. He had been in many a pickle before, but never in one quite so exasperating. Tantalized, in the first place, by the uncertainty surrounding his prospective employment, he was now confronted by a predicament which threatened to jeopardize a vital adjunct to his personal appearance. A native curiosity, to which this outrageous tale appealed so strenuously, prompted him to detach bosom No. 2 regardless. An equally characteristic thrift warned him against such an inconsiderate procedure. Finally his good judgment prevailed, and with desperate haste he adjusted the remaining bosoms of the dickey to his waistcoat, plunged into his coat, clapped his hat on his head and rushed from the room. All that day Dennis continued to receive his instalments of that bitter instruction in the ways of heedless employers and suspicious subordinates which, eased by a native good humor, conclude in the philosopher, or, unrelieved by this genial mollient, develop the cynic. By evening he was compelled to admit, as he retraced his steps to The Stag, that he had not advanced in any way.