On further inquiry Catherine found that the train she would go by left the station half an hour after the one by which the Grays would travel. She determined to remain in her room till they had started, and thus manage her departure unobserved. She went upstairs again, and wrote two little notes, one to Margaret and one to Granville. “Dearest Margaret,” said the first, “please don’t think me ungrateful for going away like this. I shall never forget you or your kindness. Perhaps some day I shall be able to thank you, but for the present I implore you not to try to find out where I am gone.” The other was more difficult of composition; but after two or three attempts she produced the following— “Please do not think me unkind if I say that I think it better for both of us not to meet again. I cannot explain why, but I am sure that I am right. Good-bye, my dear.” She could not refrain from the little touch of tenderness at the end, though afterwards she would have given worlds to recall it. “After all,” she argued, “he must know that I do care; and I would rather he thought that than that he should believe I let him behave so, without loving him.” And so it happened that the next morning she was on her way back to England, a week before she had anticipated; certainly her holiday had not failed to bring her adventures. (_To be continued._) ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. STUDY AND STUDIO. RACHEL M. WESTLAKE (New Zealand).—Many thanks for your pleasant letter.—1. The joyous keeping of Christmas itself (for which see Chambers’s _Book of Days_) is responsible for the sending of Christmas cards. Just as we send birthday cards to greet our friends on their birthdays, so we send cards to greet those to whom we cannot personally wish “A happy Christmas.” We do not think there is any ancient origin of the custom.—2. Boys at public schools are “taught so much about the heathen gods and goddesses” because to understand Greek and Latin literature it is necessary to understand mythology. Homer, for instance, cannot be understood without knowing about Zeus, Pallas Athênê, and the other inhabitants of Olympus “who hold the wide heaven.” The whole subject of the value of classical education is far too vast to enter upon here. ST. PATRICK.—1. We will consider your request as to the article on “Burnt Wood Work.”—2. We are afraid there is no way of restoring the colour in question; but careful washing will do much to prevent its conversion into green in the first instance. AN IGNORANT MUSICIAN.—1. There is no royal road to success in reading music at sight. The only way is to practise constantly reading new music. A distinguished professor, whom we know, advises also reading the notes by the eye, without the piano.—2. Both your methods of treating the bass chords are equally correct, but you should beware of consecutive octaves. If “COUNTRY LASS” were to write to Mrs. Sole, Crudwell Rectory, Malmesbury, she might receive help of a practical kind.