"Are you angry?" he asked, tenderly. "For what did you do that?" she gravely inquired. "I feared that after all you were a man-eater, but when I found that-I was not injured-I thought you only did it to try my courage!"

"If you tell me your name, I will explain the mystery!"

"My worthless name is Ts'eu!" she said, demurely.

"Now explain to me the rite of ke-e-es me", she shyly observed.

"It is thus performed, little Ts'eu! In my country, when a man wishes to show how much he worships the lady of his choice, he places his arm around herthus she looks up at him-just as you are doing at me now-you darling-then he pouts his lips—as I do mine—and you are doing yours-and he presses hersso-!" That is the American rite of kissing!"

Miss Ts'eu received the fervent tribute with evident delight, but immediately after sobered down, and sorrowfully pleaded:

"O honorable Fanwei, I do not quite understand! I cannot learn such a difficult rite in one lesson!"

Again he pressed her sweet lips, and this time the kiss was returned; however, the pause that succeeded the performance did not augur a repetition of the exercise, but after a few moments she seemed to awaken from her revery, and

tones

murmured in low, reflective
"Tell me again what you call that?"
"Kissing-little Ts'eu!"

"We have no such ceremon; in our Book of Rites! We have no name for such an act! For thousands of periods we poor Chinese women have been ignorant of this delightful rite-O, honorable Fanwei, teach me, that I may become perfect in this!"

And soon in magnetic tenderness of expression and delicate sweetness the pupil became the teacher. They felt like children stealing honey. But presently shouting was heard beneath; the maskers were departing. Tears came into little Ts'eu's eyes: she started back.

"Kiss me once more", he pleaded.

How long they remained in that embrace neither knew; a rustling sound disturbed them, and they looked up and sprang apart. The Vice-LieutenantGovernor was standing in the doorway of the apartment.

Whatever his earlier expression may have been, his face was now serenely nonchalant.

"O honorable guest", he said, "the rioters have now been suppressed. Deign, therefore, to proceed upon your honorable journey from my unworthy hovel."

For an instant little Ts'eu stood silently with drooping head; then, like the scarcely-discernible flash of the humming-bird, she had fled through the beaded curtains.

"I have a pair of speedy bays,
A span of fiery blacks,
A gentle saddle-horse or two
My stable never lacks.

I have a saucy pleasure-yacht

With flags and streamers gay, And gold and silver in the bank."

But still she answered "Nay".

"I also have", he cried at last,
"A brand-new motor car,
The latest noiseless model, made
To run without a jar.-

I have a chauffeur fresh from France
To drive me on my tours."
She straightway feil into his arms,
Exclaiming, "I am yours!"

MINNA IRVING.

*Miss Minna Irving has written some of the most attractive lyrics of the day, and a series of poems from her will be a welcome addition to the literary bill of fare of the Every Where Family. Among the many appreciations she has received from various sources, is a gold medal from the survivors of the explosion of the war-steamer "Maine", in token of their gratitude for a poem which she wrote upon the subject. She is also the author of several books. Miss Irving is a native of Tarrytown, N. Y.-long ago made famous as the home of Washington Irving. She is not only a poet of ability, but, like Mrs. Hemans, an accomplished musician, having studied under Ferdinand de Angelis, in Rome.

JUDGE DECKER sat in his library, en

sconced in a big arm-chair before the cheerful blaze of a gas log. At his right hand a little table stood on which were placed his smoking materials, a box of choice Havanas, an ash-tray, and a match-box filled to overflowing.

The judge, bachelor and so-called woman hater, had been seeing visions, dreaming dreams as he sat there alone indulging in reminiscences this bleak, wintry night.

"It was on a night like this", he mused, "that I met Kittie Lee. Sweet Kittie !her eyes were star-like, and her mouth. so bewitching, changing with each passing emotion; it almost seemed a hundred different shades of feeling moved her in a moment's space. Ah! well, perhaps if she had lived we might have married and been tired of each other long ere this. Then, sighing heavily, he turned for solace to his favorite box of cigars.

Suddenly the door bell rang, its insistent clangor being quickly followed by strange sounds which caused the venerable jurist to rise and move in their direction. Before he had reached the door, however, a man of evidently prodigious strength opened it from the other side. and stalked in, carrying in his arms the now feebly protesting butler, in much the same fashion as a small boy carries his sister's doll.

"Judge", the intruder explained, "he didn't wanter let me in an' as I wanted ter talk wid yer”—

"Well", interposed Judge Decker,

"please be kind enough to put him down" -for the butler was still held firmly in the grip of the burly visitor. This accomplished, the Judge asked; “and to what am I indebted for the honor of this visit?"

"Judge, your Honor", came in an embarrassed tone from the big fellow, "can I take a chair?"

"H'm! if my memory does not play me false, taking things is"

"Aw! cut it out, Judge, cut it out, won't yer? I want a good talk wid yer. Will yer giv' me dis one chanst, Judge?"

He looked so thoroughly in earnest as he made his plea that the Judge invited him to remove his coat and be seated. And when Kinney had drawn his chair before the fire, opposite the one his Honor occupied, and, after some maneuvering, contrived to assume a comfortable, if not elegant position therein, he resumed his wished-for talk with the words:

"Judge! do you remember me?" "Go on with your story, Kinney", replied his Honor.

"Well, Judge, I see yer do remember me. Now I'll skip right along. T'ree years ago I was pinched fer tippin' Mike Keehan off ter a raid; some bloke fouled me an' yer Honor sent me up the river fer six mon's. Well, dat was all right; soon's I got back, Nell, (dat's me goil) she started in ter reform me, an' after a while I promised her I'd walk a chalk line.

"Red chalk?" inquired his Honor.
"No, sir, white. Well, Judge, Casey-

he's the district leader, an' he's all to the mustard, Casey is he got me a job as porter in a place on White street, at ten plunks a week. Well, says I to meself, ten a week ain't much, I could make more money other ways, but Nell, she wants me ter be poor and honest, so here goes. Well, Judge, I got along fine. Me boss was a cracker-jack an' he giv' me a two dollar raise after I only been dere tree mon's. Well, sir-Judge, I meanNell an' me t'ought dat we could get hitched on twelve a week, an' we was just gettin t'ings goin' fine fer de home stretch when one night a fly cop pinched me an' said I was wanted fer tappin' old Silverstein's till an' gettin' away wid two hundred dollars. Just dat very night Nell had giv' me all her savin's, an' wid me own dey come ter two hundred an' sixteen dollars. I was goin' ter open an account wid de Bowery Credit Company, payin' so much down an' "

"Now, see here", his Honor interrupted, "can you look me in the eye and say, man to man, that you did not steal that money from Mr. Silverstein? Can you?"; and the steely, yet not unkind eyes of the Judge looked at Kinney as though they were searching the innermost depths of his soul.

"Yes, sir, I can", sturdily replied Kin

ney.

"Then, sir", and here the tone of Judge Decker's voice became like a nort. wind in its stinging imputation, "why did not your sweetheart testify to that effect at your trial?"

"Because", and Kinney's reply was almost inaudible as he choked down his grief, "because she didn't know I'd been pinched, she t'ought I'd skipped wid der dough when I didn't meet her nex' mornin', an' she-well, Judge, she just took sick an' had ter go ter bed, an' when she

25

got better some bloke told her I'd been arrested, an' when asked what fer he told her for shootin' craps. God! if I could get at dat mut wouldn't I"--but Kinney never told Judge Decker what punishment he would inflict upon the "mut", for his agitation was so great that he left his chair and raged up and down the room like some caged beast of the forest.

When he had, to some extent, cooled down, nis Honor rose, and extending his hand towards Kinney's responsive grasp, said earnestly:

"Kinney I am sorry. I don't like to imprison any man unjustly, but the evidence in your case seemed absolutely convincing. I'm sorry, very sorry, but I'll do my utmost toward obtaining another position for you. Will that help some?" and the shrewd eyes twinkled pleasantly.

"Judge", was Kinney's answer, "I'm fer Silverstein now. When I got back from Ossining yesterday Silverstein called me inter his place an' told me he had just found out who swiped his 'long green', an' I guess he felt-well, any way, I'm workin' fer him at fifteen a week. No, yer Honor, I don't need a job but"-here Kinney seemed to hesitate.

"But what, Kinney?" kindly inquired his Honor.

"Judge, Nell won't believe me. She t'inks I'm not on de level an' she won't even believe Silverstein. Will yer, please, Judge, yer Honor, write her a letter an'-'

"Certainly, I will do so with pleasure. Just give me her name and address, Kinney, and I'll attend to it the first thing in the morning."

This pressing matter arranged satisfactorily, Kinney put on his coat with his Honor's help, and, after a warm handshake, the transformed man, erstwhile bad customer, till-robber, crook, took his