... \v BY CECIL STARR JOHNS IT would be waste of time to try and describe Clare Frensham. No one could deny her beauty, nor could her hair, features, grace, and beauty of limb and body be adequately expressed without combining all the Arts. Her complexion was in keeping with the red gold of her hair, her expression was mobile arid fascinating. When Major Vibart first met her she was living in I a ...

... *nd7ng II.-- A HUNDRED YEARS. By DELL LEIGH HIDDEN away amid a clump of tall poplars on the flat lands of Northern France the old château still stands, approached by what was once a regal drive, but which is now merely an excessively muddy lane, rut-seared and neglected. It remains a dull grey stone edifice of sixteenth century type, rambling and prosaic. But it is unique in a country of ...

... f Love s Last V Leave BY VIOLET HUNT WHAT is the good?'' said the wife of Major Leclerc. ''There isn't a man left in England to dress for. I just don't do it. I'm economising. If George were to come back 11 suddenly and see me, -ke'd have a fit. Her friend, looking at Augusta Leclerc's neglected n waistline, down at her low-heeled, laced boots, up at I her hat, tall where it should have been ...

... the Eternal SHADOW i 1 I II Hi Du nial qu'une amour ignoree Nous fait souffrir J 'en porte l'ame dechiree Jusqu'a mourir. WE had been down at the Roman Catholic chapel of the French Mission to hear a little music. Pleasure of this kind rarely came our way in the little Malayan town which lay so far from the track of modern civilisation. There were three of us living there together in the C.P ...

... THE LAST STRAW: IP A BY M. LING 4 m nr HE 15th of December, 1899. That is a date to which some of us who are now again face to face with the horrible realities of war, look back with a dull pain in our hearts, at the recollection of old chums and good comrades lost-- a day on which homes were broken up, and women's lives were spoilt. Ah! yes-- you remember now-- the first battle of Colenso. ...

... No. XII. (d)-- SETTLING DAY j By RICHARD PINK A GUNROOM argument, as everyone knows, consists of flat assertion, flat contradiction, and, finally, personal abuse. This is, of course, generally followed by a bet on the subject, and, in nine cases out of ten, both parties eventually find themselves wrong. In this contingency, the matter is usually settled by an amiable dinner at Tott's, and a ...

... THE CHARM OF RED ROSES i t i FACT is beating fiction just now, and for many a long day Romance will un with her tail down to some hiding-place where Reality cannot shame her. Our novels of adventure were, for the most part, written by nervous old gentlemen who thought of a good plot after a bad dinner, and had never been nearer to the South Seas than Margate Pier. That part of the nation that ...

... THE SECRET OF THE GARDEN BY MARY FRASER A TRAGEDY OF LOVE AND f BOTANY I _r HE had greatly desired her. He had been stupid to consent to her betrothal to his nephew. Guiliano was a pleasure-seeking youth, one without taste and discernment; any woman was good enough for him. Fiametta was one of God's own creatures, daintily minded, daintily fashioned, a prize for a connoisseur. Guido, Marquis ...

... THE 71 EH SON STA IT was dark, very dark that morning, as though the day had overslept itself, and dawn, when it did come, brought with it a raw drizzle; up till then the night had been dry, although cold. No change in the weather, I however, had any effect upon a man who walked quickly, yet furtively, towards a village some three miles away, which was, so to speak, the trailing skirt of a ...

... f I j By MAUD ARNOLL SO many scandals group themselves round the name of a great singer, and in the case of Ancona the evil that men said of him was so nearly true that it is pleasant to be able to record an instance where the world thought worse of him than he deserved. As a matter of fact, the world knew nothing about it until some years later, when Roumsguérin proved his gratitude by ...

... Sex the Short Story: Further Opinions of Readers OUT OF THE ORDINARY I was very much surprised to read Saunterer's views. Personally, I have always looked forward to The Bystander's short story as something quite out of the ordinary. Whether dealing with legitimate love affairs or illicit ones, they always seem to give a most delicate handling, which is decidedly creditable to the different ...

... f Frederick II i 1 L Fenn jjj it FJ THE man who said marriage was a habit was probably right, and herein lies the reason why the percentage of marriages among widows is so high. Once you have been accustomed to the companionship of the opposite sex it is difficult to do without it. Here is no case of once bitten twice shy. The position is more analogous to that of the man who has been bitten ...