"But P--P--Peggy, dar--ling Peggy, we would not leave you alone!" Mellicent's eyes were wide with horror, she stretched out entreating hands towards the unresponsive figure. To see Peggy cross and snappish like any other ordinary mortal was an extraordinary event, and quite alarming to her placid mind. "They will ask you, too, dear! I am sure they will--we will all be asked together!" she cried; but Peggy tossed her head, refusing to be conciliated. "I shall have a previous engagement. I am not at all sure that they are the sort of people I ought to know," she said. "My parents are so exclusive! They might not approve of the acquaintance!" (_To be continued._) SOME PRACTICAL HINTS ON COSMETIC MEDICINE. BY "THE NEW DOCTOR." PART V. THE HAIR. It is often a great consolation to a girl who has but a plain face to possess a fine head of hair. One can understand how annoyed she must feel when her hair starts combing out in handfuls, and she sees her one good possession getting less and less every day. There are very many causes why the hair should comb out, and as it is absolutely necessary to know which cause is at work before attempting to cure it, we will discuss briefly the chief causes that are common. Undoubtedly the gravity of hair combing out is greatly exaggerated. If you comb out a few hairs every morning and save up the several combings to see how much hair you lose in the month, you will be surprised and annoyed at the result. Many girls do this and fancy that there is something wrong with the hair and that they are going bald. It is natural for the hair to comb out. The life of a hair is of very varying duration, but it only lives a certain time. At the expiration of this time it dies, and a new hair springs from the same root. If it were not for this, what do you think would be the state of the hair at fifty? Now let us look at the causes of the hair falling out excessively and the resulting condition--baldness. When the health is disturbed, the hair often falls more rapidly than before. After severe illnesses it is not uncommon for the hair to fall out wholesale, often producing absolute baldness. In both these cases the hair almost invariably comes back as strong as before when the health has returned. In men, age is a cause of baldness, and there is no reason to think that this cause acts less powerfully in the fair sex. Absolute baldness is not common in women, but their hair gets thinner and shorter after they have passed the meridian.