THE MONTHLY PACKET OF EVENING READINGS FOR Members of the English Church. EDITED BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE AND CHRISTABEL R. COLERIDGE. NEW SERIES.—V I. VOLUME LXXXVI. PARTS DIX. TO DXIV., JULY-DEC. 1893. LONDON: A. D. INNES AND CO., 31 & 32, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1893. Amateur Authors Wanted Cambridge Letter . INDEX. Cambridge on the Charles. By Oscar Fay Adams The Peace of Paris and of Hubertsburg Cat in the Zoo, The. By Phil Robinson Chateaubriand. By E. C. Price China Cupboard, The. Christmas Book Notices Church History Society. Doctor and the Whale, The Story of. By Crona Temple. Oliver Wendell Holmes. By Oscar Fay Adams One Night at Drumcleugh House. By Alice Weber Palermo and its Neighbourhood. By Florence Freeman Summer University Extension Meeting at Cambridge. By C. M. BY DOROTHEA GERARD, AUTHOR OF LADY BABY,' 'ORTHODOX,' AND 'A QUEEN OF CURDS AND CREAM,' AND JOINT AUTHOR OF 'REATA,' ETC. CHAPTER I. THE EVENING POST. DINNER was over in 31 Laurel Road, and the three ladies of the party were waiting for the lamp in the drawing-room, while the one gentleman still sat over his claret in solitary state. It was a good sized drawing-room; one of those London rooms which have once upon a time been divided by foldingdoors into a back and a front parlour, as is proclaimed by the two fire-places, and by the heavy beam separating from each other two ceilings which neither in colour nor design are even distantly related. The furniture solid but well-worn; most of the wood mahogany, and all the carpets Brussels. The ornaments respectable, but scarcely ornamental, and certainly not according to the spirit of the day. Bouquets of wax flowers under glass, photograph albums symmetrically disposed on a table, and not so much as a peacock's feather or a Japanese screen between the four walls. One of the fire-places was filled with pink and white paper shavings, in what used to be the most approved fashion; the other-the one placed in what had once upon a time been the back-parlour-emitted a moderate red glow, very grateful on this chilly evening of early May to the three people assembled near it. VOL. 86 (VI.-NEW SERIES). I NO. 509. |