Now I shall be very glad to take charge of dolls or other toys, and old Christmas cards (with or without writing upon them) for sending to India. I need presents not only for Madras but for other places, only I cannot refer to those now. The dolls should be of composition or china, not of very soft wax. It is not necessary that their clothes should take off and on, though for large dolls this is an advantage. The Indian children are very pleased to have small boxes with lock and key, to keep their bangles in, and they like bags too. At Calcutta many of the ladies read English, so that interesting books are of use, if not very difficult. I shall be able to inform the donors of the way in which their kind gifts are applied, for Mrs. Brander and my other correspondents tell me particulars about the children who receive them. I give my address, and I shall be very grateful on behalf of the little Indian children if my appeal is responded to. E. A. MANNING, 35, Blomfield Road, Maida Hill, W. “NO.” BY MARY E. HULLAH. CHAPTER IV. Soon after Easter Mrs. Rakely paid a visit to London. She was a person with a chronic grievance; and though she had done her utmost to bring about Joan’s marriage, she considered it necessary to feel ill-used, because her favourite companion was not at hand to amuse her. She called on Embrance, and carried her off—almost without asking her consent—to spend a long afternoon. “I wish I had had you yesterday, my dear. Horace Meade came to dinner. Joan begged me to ask him; and as I met him in Bond Street, I did; otherwise, I think it would have escaped my memory. I took a fancy to him at one time; but he was always eccentric, and he looks more so than ever since he has been in Italy.” “I did not know that he had been in Italy.” “Yes. He has only just returned. It was a foolish thing to do, flinging away his chance of getting his picture into the Royal Academy. Joan told me about it. But that’s my objection to young men taking to art—they are so eccentric. Now he is going abroad again—I have forgotten where, my memory is not what it used to be; but he did tell me.” As long as Mrs. Rakely had someone to listen to her she was quite satisfied. She took Embrance to a picture gallery; trotted her through four or five milliners’ shops in search of an ideal bonnet; asked her advice about umbrellas, and then bought the one she liked best herself; and finally left her, thoroughly exhausted, at the corner of her own street.