It was not a particularly pleasant interview.

[Illustration: Lupoba-Tilaana, Mist on the Mountain]

[Illustration Note: LUPOBA-TILAANA. MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN

Readers of the text may have noticed that animal life plays a very
unimportant part in the life of the Filbertines. Exception must be
made in the case of a magnificent ooka-snake, the only one on the
islands, which was the proudest possession of lovely Lupoba, who later
became the wife of Herman Swank. The ooka-snake lives entirely upon
cocoanut milk which gives him a gentle disposition admirably adapted
for petting. Mr. Swank has confessed that his wife's fondness for the
creature stirred in him a very real jealousy which, in view of the
charming testimony of her portrait, we can well understand. A painting
of Mrs. Swank by her husband has recently been purchased by the Corcoran
Art Gallery of Washington, D.C.]

After apologizing for our absence, which we attributed to illness, we
broke the news as gently as possible that we were married.

"Well," said William Henry Thomas, "so be I ... the lady's on board."

"You old land-crab!" blazed Whinney. "Who married you?"

"She did," he replied.

"But who performed the ceremony?" asked Swank.

"Me," answered William Henry.