and very anxious, moreover, to finish a book you are deep in, feel for a moment disposed to be churlish and refuse to join. Well, then comes in the remembrance of what is due to others, and you put the best face you can on it, get your hat, and go. Or on a wet day somebody wants to play billiards, or battledore and shuttlecock, or something, and you would rather work at a drawing or run through a song or two in the little boudoir where you will disturb nobody, but you are wanted to help brighten up the dreary day, and your private inclinations have to be sacrificed to the good of others. Another thing---- But my paper is growing rather lengthy, and, lest I should be voted a bore and go to pieces on the rock Scylla, I think my remarks had better end here for to-day, the remainder of them, not many now, being laid by for another occasion. (_To be continued._) [Illustration] LETTERS FROM A LAWYER. PART III. The Temple. MY DEAR DOROTHY,--So you have decided on commencing your married life in a flat--a very wise decision on your part. In the first place, in a flat you know exactly what your position is as regards rent, whereas a house entails constant expense for repairs, to say nothing of rates and taxes. It is true that, if the people on the floor above you indulge in clog-dancing all the day whilst the occupiers of the floor below practise the cornet à piston half-way into the night, you might find that the drawbacks of a flat were unendurable; but I do not think that you are likely to suffer quite such a terrible experience as I have depicted. Another advantage of a flat is that, if you want to run down to the country or the seaside for the week's end, or for even a longer period, you can lock up your flat and start off gaily; but with a house on your hands it is a very different matter. But perhaps the greatest attraction of a flat is the reduction in the number of the necessary domestics. In a small flat like yours, you ought to manage very well with one servant, provided she is capable and attends to her work. Whatever you do, don't engage a "treasure," unless you happen to know all about her. If one is recommended to you by an acquaintance, you may be quite sure that the "treasure" has some great drawback; otherwise, why should her mistress be so anxious to part with her? Ask yourself that question before you burden yourself with a "treasure" that you may have great difficulty in getting rid of, especially if she turns out to be a tyrant like some "treasures" I have known. Remember my warning, beware of "treasures." Get a servant that you can instruct, not one that will order you about and make your life a burden to you.