* * * * *

[Illustration: CORIOLANUS.

"SUCH A NATURE,
TICKLED WITH GOOD SUCCESS, DISDAINS THE SHADOW
WHICH HE TREADS ON AT NOON."--_Coriolanus_, Act I., Sc. 1.]

* * * * *

DUMAS UP TO ARMY ESTIMATES' DATE.

PART I.--_THE THREE VOLUNTEERS._

LIEUTENANT PORTHOS, Captain ATHOS, and Major ARAMIS were delighted
with the progress discernible in every detail of the battalion to
which it was their honour to belong. Not a man that did not appear on
parade conscious of the fact that he had made himself proficient--the
privates were contented, the non-commissioned officers happy. It
was, indeed, a model Regiment. On the occasion of their inspection
by Colonel D'ARTAGNAN, a man marched from the ranks, and demanded a
hearing.

"And what do _you_ want?" asked the inspecting officer.

"We wish the unjust to be made just," returned the discontented one.
"We ask for a reform."

PORTHOS, ATHOS, and ARAMIS would have protested, but Colonel
D'ARTAGNAN motioned them to be silent. "I am here," he murmured, "to