A bird of passage

FEW travellers penetrate to the Andamans, unless it be an enthusiastic astronomer to witness a rare comet, or an enterprising professor, who happens to be fired with a desire to...

ALL this time Colonel Denis had been engaged in animated conversation with Mr. Quentin. Nature had been doubly generous to the latter gentleman, for she had not merely endowed h...

She went out into the verandah, and looked about her, in order to become better acquainted with the situation of her new home. The bungalow stood a little way back from the grav...

"THERE is Mrs. Creery!" exclaimed Colonel Denis, starting up rather nervously. "She has come to call _first_. Don't keep her waiting." To Helen, who was hastily smoothing her ha...

HELEN found her reception a most trying ordeal. She was very cordially welcomed by the General, who instantly came forward to meet her, and escorted her towards Mrs. Creery; she...

PERHAPS it would be as well, before going further with this story, to dedicate a page or two to a description of that very important lady, Mrs. Creery. The gentleman who occupie...

MAIL-DAY had come round once more, and Helen could hardly believe that she had been already six weeks on Ross, it seemed more like six days. She had made the acquaintance of alm...

MRS. HOME'S entertainments to her friends generally took the form of a picnic or gipsy tea, partly, we suspect, because these outings were in great favour with Tom and Billy, an...

MR. LISLE had been out boating far beyond North Bay; but a sombre sultry afternoon, and the ominous silence that precedes a tropical storm, had warned him to steer homewards. He...

MISS DENIS was none the worse for her adventure the next morning, and was called upon to give a full, true, and particular account of herself to Mrs. Creery and Mrs. Home, also...

FROM this time forward, Mr. Lisle occasionally accompanied his companion to Ross, and listened to the band, and was even to be met with at tennis parties, in brave defiance of M...

IT may be among the facts not generally known, that the Andaman seas and shores are wealthy in shells; and people who grumble at being despatched to do duty at the settlement ar...

"HE must be in the saloon!" cried Mrs. Creery. "I've hunted the whole ship, and I'm sure he has gone down. You," to Mr. Lisle, "will have to go after him; I dare not, it looks s...

FOR several days after this startling occurrence, Miss Denis did not appear in public. She would gladly have denied herself to all visitors save Mrs. Home; but who could shut ou...

THINGS went on much as usual after this at Port Blair; there were no more tragedies, nothing startling to record, and people had quietly settled themselves down to wonder if Liz...

"ANOTHER fine, sunshiny day," is naturally of common recurrence in the East, and it was yet another magnificent afternoon at Ross—very bright, very warm, and very still. Underne...

NIGHT had fallen, and the full moon to which Dr. Malone had alluded was sailing overhead, and flooding Ross with a light that was almost fierce in its intensity; the island seem...

HELEN and her partner ascended the steep gravel pathway, lined with palms, gold mohur, and orange-trees, and turning a sharp corner, came suddenly upon a full view of the sea, w...

IT will not surprise any one to hear, that there was rather a stormy meeting between Mr. Lisle and his fellow inmate. Mr. Quentin did not return home till nearly four o'clock, a...

IT is perhaps needless to mention that Mrs. Creery made it her business, and considered it her duty, to circulate the intelligence that she had received about Mr. Lisle without...

WHEN last we saw Mr. Quentin, he had just succeeded in convincing his companion that he was Miss Denis's favoured suitor. This was well—this was satisfactory. But it was neither...

THE news about Colonel Denis was only too true! He had started for the ranges on Aberdeen one morning about nine o'clock, as his regiment was going through their annual course o...

"Joy comes and goes, hope ebbs and flows, Like the wave. Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of man; Love lends life a little grace, A few sad smiles; and then, Both are la...

A few days after James Quentin's return, without any marked haste he went over and called on Mrs. Home and Miss Denis. The former was an arrant little match-maker, and was delig...

"MRS. HOME and party" were to be seen in the list of names of those who sailed from Calcutta in the steamer _Palestine_ on the 20th of March. There were not many other passenger...

"YOU had better have your big box kept in the back hall—it will scarcely be worth while to take it upstairs, and it might only rub the paper off the wall."

LADY GRUBB'S visit was succeeded by one from Mrs. Home—a kind, well-meaning little lady, as we know, but as yet attired in what had been a very nice Dirzee-made garment at Port...

A FEW days after her aunt had thus frankly unfolded her plans, Helen was out shopping,—officiating as companion and carrier to her cousin Clara—and again encountered Mr. Quentin...

SCENE: a splendidly furnished dining-room in the most fashionable square in London; season, end of July; hour, nine p.m.; _dramatis personæ_, a father and son; the former, an ol...

HELEN'S preparations for departure were rapidly accomplished; she had no voluminous wardrobe to pack, no circle of farewell visits to pay. Moreover, she was possessed by a fever...

LARRY and Finnigan's mare were not long in dwindling into a little speck in the distance; and when they had completely vanished Helen set out to walk to Cara Cross, the goal of...

THE following morning Helen was formally conducted round the premises by her cousins. They explored the tangled shrubbery, the garden, and the yard; the latter was empty—save fo...

JUDY THE FANCY was one of the most prominent characters about Crowmore. She lived at the Cross, and haunted that well-beaten thoroughfare from early morn till dewy eve. Despite...

"HERE'S the comrade of your glove, Miss Dido," said Biddy, descending into the hall, where the three girls, attired in their best summer dresses (being about to set forth for a...

HOWEVER highly Mr. Sheridan's intellectual faculties might be rated by foreign philosophers, and corresponding _savants_, yet, like the typical prophet, he had no honour in his...

THE three girls lost no time in responding to this invitation; they crossed the hall, passed through the door connecting it with the Castle, and ascended a rugged, spiral stone...

THIS is Dido Sheridan's birthday.—She is twenty-four years old to-day. Her cousin Helen's offering is to take the shape of this hat, which she is engaged in trimming with somewh...

IN a large flagged room on the basement story, Helen, Katie, and old Biddy, were seated round a well-scoured table, making busy preparations for the despatch of a creditable "ca...

HELEN soon discovered that the Crowmore cart had quite an established reputation; her peas, and beans, strawberries and asparagus commanded a brisk sale. Customers came flocking...

THE Master's trot proved to be a mere flash in the pan, and after a mile the aged animal subsided into his normal pace,—namely, a desultory and erratic stroll. His driver, weari...

IT was not dark, it was not even dusk, when Helen, having fought her way through the laurustinus and syringa of the pleasure-grounds, mounted the hill which lay between Crowmore...