Beatrice.

BEATRICE .

BY THE AUTHOR OF THE " OLD OLD STORY , " " ADVENTURES OF DON PASQUALE , " ETC . CHAPTER in . was at a very pleasant croquet partyto be followed by the British five o ' clock tea ,

IT , ( for even that bad practice had reached Cayley , and flourished there in perfection ) , at I first began to form one of that little friendly coterie to ivhich I have alluded , and learned , moreover , to take an interest in the tableau vivant before my eyes . Croquet may be the pleasantest just as it may be the stupidest of games . Given congenial people , and fair , sides , it is an innocent and amusing employment for an " off clay "; but too much of croquet is , in my opinion , a great bore . I have known games of

croquet , moreover , where the whole affair degenerated into an unmitigated nuisance , where the players , stupid and uninteresting at all times , seemed to become doubly stupicl and uninteresting amid the fracas and tours de force , and changes and chances of croquet . And here I wish to propound a question quite worthy of " all the talents " of the British Association . Why is it that good-looking young women are better to get on with at croquet than plain young women ? And though I hardlexpect a lto so abstruse

y repy a query , I think it well to call attention to it , though I may have to leave it in that doubt and mystery ivhich properly enshroud it . On that long-remembered afternoon we had very pleasant sides , and very cheery " mates , " ancl very great amusement . To use a yoraig lady's Avord , it Avas very " jolly . " Young Morley , British soldier as he Avas , was as active as a cat , ancl as skilful a manoeuvre ! ' as he should probably be , while Twamley , whose " Geist" never deserted himkept us all cheerful and . Brummer

, very merry , joined in the game heartily , ( though he knew nothing about it ) , and a young Oxonian , son of the Vicar of Molesey , astonished us by the proficiency ivhich he had learned at Magdalen , proving , as Twamley remarked , that he had taken his degree at any rate " Literis Croquetioribus . " The young ladies were Beatrice , and Miss Morley , the Oxonian ' s pretty sister , Miss Merewether , and Brummer ' s gay and espeicjle niece Fraiilein Lisette .

The older folks looked on , and being myself , or I imagined myself , something , as the French say , of a philosopher , en retraite ( though with both my eyes open ) , I consented to act as umpire , being partial , if not impartial , to both sides in the contest . And even to-day , after several years , I seem to recall that pleasant scene . Tho level lawn , the purling brook , the murmuring trees , the fragrant flowers , all . rise up before my jaded memory as a very merry vision of the past , as I rack my old brain to put into words

moving this " outcome " of sentiment , of matter-of-fact , of romance , or reality , or what you will , for the kindly readers of the Masonic Magazine . . Alas , as the mind leaves the present of action and care , and travels away to a ] : ast of gracious souvenirs , that gay gathering seems to be reproduced in all its living meaning and being before me now , in this dusty room , amid my well-known books , though , alas , those smiling faces are now old ancl careworn , those soft voices are some of them

prematurely hushed , those graceful forms ( some of them ) are still in the grave . What a sad ancl yet tender friend is Retrospect to us , ancl how like as if , with a magician's ivand , it summons up before us for a little space the airy shadows of the past , only , however , to convince us , ere long , that they are the veriest if the pleasantest of shadows , as they fade from our wistful gaze ancl melt into the " circumambient air . " But what magnificent words are these , and where in the name of all that is mentionable ancl unmentionable am I getting to ? Still that game of croquet progressed , as games of croquet do progress on a