character given him by the astrologer.

His wife gazed at him with a look of such strong interrogation as he was
about to follow her into the house that he paused with his foot on the
step and eyed her dumbly.

"Have you left anything inside that you want?" she inquired.

[Illustration: "'Have you left anything inside that you want?' she
inquired."]

Mr. Boxer shook his head. "I only wanted to come in and make a clean
breast of it," he said, in a curious voice; "then I'll go."

Mrs. Gimpson stood aside to let him pass, and Mr. Thompson, not to be
denied, followed close behind with his faintly protesting wife. They sat
down in a row against the wall, and Mr. Boxer, sitting opposite in a
hang-dog fashion, eyed them with scornful wrath.

"Well?" said Mrs. Boxer, at last.

"All that he said was quite true," said her husband, defiantly. "The
only thing is, he didn't tell the arf of it. Altogether, I married three
dusky maidens."

Everybody but Mr. Thompson shuddered with horror.

"Then I married a white girl in Australia," pursued Mr. Boxer, musingly.
"I wonder old Silver didn't see that in the bowl; not arf a fortune-
teller, I call 'im."