hope it has still some evening of repose and calm ahead."

"I hope so."

"I know that, Mrs. Markenfield." With a slight laugh he put his elbow on his knee, and leant his face on his hand, so that he could stare fully into mine, then spoke with marked significance.

and purple; saw the sky, save for a faint pink line in the west, assume that soft, greenish blue against which trees and all prominent objects stand out like marvellous carving. I had been urgently invited to the spot again; and we walked to and fro until the deepest dusk which was to fall that night from the clear heaven was

As I was going up to my bedroom, forth from Mr. Hazlit's door came Isabella, in a long red dressing-gown. She was stealing cautiously to the stairs, when she spied me, and stopped short.

"In different circumstances, with a fac-around us. tor-ought I to say factress? — in my present situation non-existent, my piety might have been less. Certain hopes I don't think they would have been delusive my hopes never are delusive might have aroused impatience. As it is, my fate being fixed, and my mercenary tendencies of the chastened kind, my filial wishes have no motive to weaken them."

I both disbelieved, and comprehended bim, thoroughly, with great, though repressed, resentment, and thoroughly he knew it. Added to which, for the last few minutes I had been intensely aware that one of his arms was stretched along the back of the settee, and that my least movement entailed touching it. I could not well rise; Maisie had placed her stores in my lap, and, also, I wished to appear perfectly careless of what was, in itself, insignificant. Had he put his hand on my shoulder, or his face nearer to mine, I should forthwith have sprung to my feet; but the child's presence was a check. Besides, he is prudent, and he did not wish to give me an excuse for taking offence; the sort of intuition of my feelings I am sure he possessed was enough

for him.

It seemed to me he lingered for ages, alternately trifling with the little girl, and talking to me. His conversation reminds me of skating. He skims rapidly, smoothly, over so large a stretch of subjectmatter in such a short time. He often passes the post maked "Dangerous," but his tread is so transient, his passage so swift, that ere I can resent his leading we are on conventional tracks again.

But at length he consulted his watch, jumped up, shook hands and said goodbye, taking Maisie with him to share some sweets with Lulu. "I shall keep you at home to-night, puss. Your mother is going to stay with grandfather, and your poor father's afraid of wild beasts, by himself."

She rushed at his heels shouting, "Silly father! Silly father!" and I breathed freely.

I did not remain there. From the terrace I watched the sun drop out of sight, a magnificent monarch in a palace of rose

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I thought you had gone to bed, Mrs. Markenfield," she stammered confusedly. "Do you want anything, Mrs. Hazlit?" 'Oh, no, no! nothing. I came to see if the doors were fast." Nobody but Keezie ever touches bolts and bars." "How is Mr. Hazlit?"

"Fast asleep; has been a long timehe doesn't know I'm here, and Miss Waylen has gone to bed."

"I'm very glad. I hope you'll have a quiet night."

"Thank you. Good-night."

While we spoke she had shifted her eyes from the floor to the walls, from walls to ceiling. She gazed anywhere but at me. Her manner was so exceedingly pe culiar that I wondered. I might have frustrated her in some purpose by meet ing her just then. She is a blunderer in deception; the rôle may or may not be sympathetic, but, certainly, the performance is weak. My mood when alone was much more pleasant than has been the case for some time. I put out the candle before finishing undressing, and opened the window wide. The night was warm, and very still. There was not a cloud upon the great dome which hung, studded thickly with stars, over the quiet garden. There seemed a luminousness in the atmosphere which made every object below distinctly visible. I could even discrimi nate between the different degrees of density caused by the various shades of the belt of trees circling the lawn. I undressed slowly, dreamily thinking. I am not quite equal to expressing my thoughts, perhaps they were not sufficiently definite for that, but until I was in bed, I should have said that I was in the frame of mind to be first agreeably held awake, and then drop imperceptibly to sleep. But I had not lain long before I discovered that slumber, instead of advancing, appeared to be steadily receding. A feverish restlessness, a tiresome activity in following up every end of thought that struck me,

menacing presence. Once, twice, the folds of its wrappings were furiously tossed and agitated; an arm was raised and shaken, as calling calamity upon the house.

was gradually exciting me. Brief snatches | though its passage was so deliberate, so of oblivion, of not more than a few mo- quiet, its long garment seeming to trail ments' duration, from which I started ner- lightly as a cloud behind it, it was yet a vously, my heart beating with undefined apprehension, increased my ultimate wakefulness. This is the sure commencement of a veritable "Walpurgis night," when every crack of furniture or planking, every stir of curtain and coverlet, every faint sound arising or fancied on distant staircases and passages, becomes significant, and the

vague spiritual fear,

Like to some doubtful noise of creaking doors,
Heard by the watcher in a haunted house,
That keeps the rust of murder on the walls,
waves its spectral sword.

I knew I was alone in the room, but by degrees I ceased to feel so. The air the invisible, all-surrounding air-took a voice. Faint stirs, like the rustling of wings, made, I doubt not, by birds in the ivy outside, suggested to me a horrible story of some vindictive avenger, who, under the form of the bird of night from which this house derives its name, invaded the solitude of a victim and killed him. As they slowly dragged on, those few hours of the night brought actual agony.

Spellbound, I yet leant further out to mark its course. It passed beneath, went on and turned an angle that hid it from my sight. But at the turn it lifted the light it had been holding low against its side. Lifted it so that a ray streamed over its grim features and wild white hair and beard.

That broke the spell. I allowed no interval to collect my ideas. One impulse surged so high that it overbore everything. To obtain instant satisfaction from a dread that was weirder and more ghastly in its strangeness than that of any delusive spectre, I seized a long heavy jacket that was hanging up, whose folds enveloped me entirely, concealing even my feet which I hastily thrust into stockings and slippers, and forgetting my fallen, disordered hair, recking nothing of how startling my appearance would be, I stumAt last amidst these morbid fancies bled to the door, turned the handle, and came a sound that was neither buzzing of reached the wide landing where the dim insect's wing, or crack of time-worn wood. light struggling faintly through the great It was near my door, but whether grow-square-paned window seemed to converge ing nearer or more distant I could not on the monkey sentinel of the stair-head. distinguish. It was like a muffled tread,

falling very very - slowly, accompa nied by a soft, heavy dragging upon the floor.

Unable to lie longer I sprang from the bed and groped my way towards the casement. I looked up first at the dense blue, pierced with winking points of lightlooked until my thoughts were calmer, until my fears gradually ebbed under the soothing of a great protection that seemed to descend in serene supremacy of majesty, compelling the turmoil of terror to give place to the quiescence of awe.

From Blackwood's Magazine. MINICOY: THE ISLAND OF WOMEN.

CONCLUSION.

LET us now turn our attention to the shore, which we can see is crowded with people. Those groups in dark long robes must be women. They have heard of our arrival, and as the boats are returned so early from the fishing-grounds, we must be coming on shore, and so they have come out to see and welcome us.

They are not disappointed. We land opposite the government office of the island - a neat little thatched stone-andmortar house, with a verandah running round it, and on the sea-front a large thatched pandal (structure raised poles) to give additional shade, and to keep off the glare, while admitting every breath of air that blows.

on

When my raised glance at last fell I had become a rational creature. Turning my eyes downwards to the garden, shall I ever forgot the horror that made my knees fail me, and my whole body tremble, as "O God! what is it?" escaped me like a cry. Something moving slow and noiselessly along, almost below the window. It seemed unnaturally tall, and its dim white outline had a mistiness such as no material form had ever presented to me. Το We find it stocked with a table and one my vision its outline was surrounded by or two wooden chairs and benches, so we a faint luminous circle, marked upon the sit down to breakfast, and rest before path in contrast to the shadows. Al-starting to view the settlement.

So we just throw a grateful glance or two at the bonniest and sonsiest of our fair servers, who receive the attention nothing loath, but with much decorum, and then we settle down again, determined to get at the bottom of this varângi and attiri business.

We find that the township is divided into ten varângis, but into only nine attiris. Comparing the names however, we discover that the two exactly correspond, except in regard to two of the former, to which there is but one corresponding attiri. These divisions of the township, then, are territorial in their character.

As the meal is finished, and cheroots | asked or expected; their head-women arare lighted, a deputation is announced. range it among themselves, we are told, Who? Only the ladies of the island come and each varângi takes its turn at the task. to pay their respects to the strangers. The deputation is ushered in, and, headed by a grave, matronly lady, a bevy of modest-looking, healthy girls, bearing island produce of all kinds, comes forward, and spreads at our feet a number of baskets containing eggs and vegetables and fruit, and an odd chicken or two. The striped silk gown worn by them extends nearly to the ankles, and has a hole for the head to pass through, and short sleeves, in many cases very tastefully embroidered. The gown fits pretty closely to the figure, and shows off its wearer's charms very becomingly; and sometimes a white, sometimes a green, under-garment shows itself below the skirt of the gown. Although Muhammadan by religion, they are all unveiled and bareheaded. We ask a few questions through an interpreter, convey our thanks, and then, with much propriety, the deputation files out. What? Another deputation of ladies? Yes; in they come, and lay their gifts before us and depart. And another, and another, and another, succeed each other in quick succession, till we are perfectly bewildered with deputations and gifts, and ask how many more there are to come. We are told there are ten altogether; and then we begin to wonder, Is there any magic in the decennial number? Why not eleven or nine?

Let us investigate this a little. But, hilloa!-here come the deputations back again; for as we settle down to a crossexamination of our interpreter, a fresh bevy of girls and women comes filing into view, each carrying a water-pot. Why the water-pots? But we are speedily enlightened; for, just throwing a curious glance or two at us, they file past our verandah, and one by one pour water into a big tub. That water is intended for our use while ashore. We are proceeding to thank the women for their services, and begin to think of remuneration, when our interpreter stops us. It is the custom of the island for the women so to treat strangers, and no remuneration is either

But for what purpose are these separate male and female divisions organized? is our next point.

The answer we receive is a curious one, and takes long to tell.

Did you ever hear of the discoveries of Trembley about the middle of last century? We presume not; so let us explain a little. Well, then, there is a zoophyte called Hydra viridis, of the order of Acalepha, or sea-nettles, which possesses certain extraordinary qualities. These qualities Trembley discovered and made known to the astonished scientific world. With the aid of a thick pointless boar's bristle, and delicate manipulation, he turned that unfortunate zoophyte inside out, just as you might do the fingers of a kid glove. The polype died, of course, you suggest. No such thing. It lived: and, what is more, its stomach became its outer skin; and its outer skin, finding itself in such a novel position, adapted itself to circumstances and became its stomach, able to digest worms and other such succulent morsels!

Now we are going to ask you to effect a somewhat similar operation on yourself. It is not, however, with your stomach we wish you to deal, but with your mind and its associations.

Take unto yourself a new understanding-we do not say that that is an easy matter, far from it. The needle stuck through the neck of the polype, which prevented its reversion to its original form, will be indispensable in your case if you wish clearly to apprehend what follows.

You have hitherto been brought up to consider that the man is the natural head of the house and of the family. Put that idea away from you for the present, and imagine a state of society in which the

woman, and not the man, is the recognized | to permit of our doing him that injustice), head of the house, and in doing so you will say that he becomes Mrs. A. Brown, we have taken the first and most important should be conveying as near an approach step towards a clear apprehension of the to the truth as our halting English will relations between the sexes in Minicoy. allow.

Have you got that fact clearly and firmly fixed in your mind? Yes. Well, then, you are ready for the next step in advance, and you will accept without cavil or ungallant comment our next position, which is, that the ladies so placed manage their affairs far better than the gentlemen. You doubt the fact. Then go to Minicoy, and satisfy yourself how it can be done.

There the ladies will have no breaking up of homes, until sheer necessity from want of space compels them to it. There you may see with your own eyes grandmothers, mothers, and daughters all living peaceably together; and not only that, but grandfathers, fathers, and sons all members of the same household - eating out of the common pot, and living in peace and friendship all under one roof.

Anyhow, the result is that, with his acquisitions, either hereditary - for the Minicovites follow strictly the Prophet's law on that point or self-amassed, Jones passes quietly into the Brown family household, sinks his Jones patronymic, and becomes a Brown.

Jones's children, who are, of course, like himself Browns and not Joneses, in due time succeed to Jones's separate property, for at his marriage the acquisitions he brought with him belong to him and his wife as long as they remain members of the Brown household. Following the Muhammadan law, Jones's sons get double the portions of his daughters. The sons in due course marry, and in like manner become, let us say, Robinsons, and take with them to the Robinson household their shares of Jones's goods. But Jones's daughters remain always Browns, and their shares go to swell the household stock of the Browns, augmented, of course,

"Every woman in the island is dressed in silk," says the official report already quoted; and well they can afford it too, say we, for are not the economy of the plan and the wisdom of the ladies self-in due time by the goods their husbands evident?

The men even belong to the women, and wise they are to accept the position, and to submit to their fate!

But, you suggest, you have already told us they marry among themselves what happens then? you ask.

bring with them from, let us say, the household of Smith, among whom they select their husbands.

Let us follow the fortunes of the Browns a little further. The Brown daughters are numerous and prolific; the Brown family house is incapable any longer of holding them all; there is no land adjacent whereon to build the additional accommodation required - what happens then? Such a contingency is not regarded with much equanimity either by the elders of the Brown household or by the younger members themselves; but of course necessity

There is, let us say, a household of and this applies more particularly to Browns, and another household of Joneses. the poorer classes of the communityMoreover, A, a daughter of the household sometimes compels them to break up the of Brown, loves, and is beloved by, B, of household. And in such a case the husthe household of Jones. B comes home bands and men of the Brown household from a voyage to Calcutta in the Dharia select a fresh piece of land, and build for Beg. He brings with him in his sea-chest the eldest daughter and her husband and the silken gowns and other joys which A family a new house, to which the eldest expects. Happy is their meeting, and in daughter and her family are in due course the great marrying month of May, when transferred, thereby founding a fresh the island registrar is busy with his books, | household of Browns, which, to distinthey are duly wed. Well, what happens? Does Miss A. Brown become Mrs. B. Jones, and live happy ever after? Not a bit of it. Au contraire, Mr. B. Jones becomes how shall we express the idea? our English fails us to find an equivalent, but if we might, without unsexing Mr. B. J. (for he is far too smart a sailor

guish it from the original house, is called, let us say, the household of the BrownSmiths.

In like manner the second daughter and her family are next, if necessary, provided for, and so on until the original Brown household is reduced to manageable proportions once more.