“None whatever,” said I.

Thereupon I delivered the horse to my friend the ostler.  The landlord informed me that my new acquaintance was a respectable horse-dealer and an intimate friend of his, whereupon the purchase was soon brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

IV.—­A Recruiting Sergeant

Leaving Horncastle the next day, I bent my steps eastward, and on the following day I reached a large town situated on a river.  At the end of the town I was accosted by a fiery-faced individual dressed as a recruiting sergeant.

“Young man, you are just the kind of person to serve the Honourable East India Company.”

“I had rather the Honourable Company should serve me,” said I.

“Of course, young man.  Take this shilling; ’tis service money.  The Honourable Company engages to serve you, and you the Honourable Company.”

“And what must I do for the Company?”

“Only go to India—­the finest country in the world.  Rivers bigger than the Ouse.  Hills higher than anything near Spalding.  Trees—­you never saw such trees!  Fruits—­you never saw such fruits!”

“And the people—­what kind are they?”

“Pah!  Kauloes—­blacks—­a set of rascals!  And they calls us lolloes, which, in their beastly gibberish, means reds.  Why do you stare so?”

“Why,” said I, “this is the very language of Mr. Petulengro.”

“I say, young fellow, I don’t like your way of speaking; you are mad, sir.  You won’t do for the Honourable Company.  Good-day to you!”

“I shouldn’t wonder,” said I, as I proceeded rapidly eastward, “if Mr. Petulengro came from India.  I think I’ll go there.”

* * * * *

M. E. BRADDON

Lady Audley’s Secret

      Mary Elizabeth Maxwell, youngest daughter of Henry Braddon,
     solicitor, and widow of John Maxwell, publisher, was born in
     London in 1837.  Early in life she had literary aspirations,
     and, as a girl of twenty-three, wrote her first novel, “The
     Trail of the Serpent,” which first appeared in serial form. 
     “Lady Audley’s Secret” was published in 1862, and Miss Braddon
     immediately sprang into fame as an authoress, combining a
     graphic style with keen analysis of character, and exceptional
     ingenuity in the construction of a plot of tantalising
     complexities and dramatic DENOUEMENT.  The book passed
     through many editions, and there was an immediate demand for
     other stories by the gifted authoress.  That demand was met
     with an industry and resource rarely equalled.  Every year
     since, Miss Braddon, who throughout retained her maiden as her
     pen-name, furnished the reading public with one, and for a
     long period two romances of absorbing interest.

I.—­The Second Lady Audley