Beatrice.

BEATRICE .

BY THE AUTHOR OF THE " OLD , OLD STORY , " " ADVENTURES OF DON PASQXJALE , " ETC . CHAPTER Yn . MR . MILLER proceeded on his way to the great Grogwitz ' s , according to the address given him by Mr . Docket , namely , Quality Court , Cattington Square !

As he was on his way , Mr . Miller thought , as he was going on a " voyage of discovery , " ancl as his " sitting" might be protracted , sensible man as he was , that he would fortify his inner man with a " wee bit o' luncheon , " and so he turned in to a well-known " Luncheon Bar , " where he was soon comfortably and profitably engaged in enjoying a well-cooked ancl well-served meal ! Do my readers ask where ? I feel that the shade of mystery must still hover over this commodious haunt !

Oh ! happy days of verdant youth ! Oh pleasant hour of a friendly pngrimage , when with the " true and trusty" we sallied forth in quest of a modest yet digestible repast , and found it , con amore , under thy humble roof , and protected by thy glittering sign ! As I write , worn ancl old , the room seems filled with the voices , and faces , and laughter of yore , though I perchance am the sole survivor of that " meriae companye , " which loitered so complacently ancl "daffed the world aside" so cheerily , in that well-known sanctumyears on years ago— " Consule Planco . " The " Qecuban "

, , is still to the fore , no doubt , for other carousers ; for myself , such gay gatherings are but the dim memories of the past , ghosts which come in with silent tread , and then fade as silently away . Mr . Miller , however , got a very good luncheon at a very reasonable rate , and then hailing a hansom , proceeded on his venturous quest , as our young men like to put it . Oh , ye young men of ours , if you would not despise our good old English

" undefiled , " and would give up the barbarisms of a retrograde slang , and the childishness of factitious verbiage , how much better for us all it would be ! Still , as a veracious chronicler , I must be fan * even to our young men .. We had " slang" in my youth , but it was of a very mild sort , —nothing , in fact , like that classic lingo which I defy any one to understand to-day . I do not wonder that they are giving up Greek , as a dead language ; but what I do wonder at is , that

those wiseacres who are so perversely ready to do so —some of those who have signed a recent petition to the Universities , for instance—do not , out of compliment to our cultured young men , suggest " slang" as a living language ! Surely in this case " exchange" wouM be no " robbery !" I see that among the lamented White Melville's remains is a famous hunting song termed" Drink drink . " How appropriate such a strain will be hi

, , puppy , very the Syren voices of our young ladies to our young men just now ! Well , a truce to disquisitions . In due time the easy-going hansom deposited Mr . Miller at the entrance of Quality Court .

Mi-. Miller , being a canny Scot , discharged " cabbie" forthwith , though not without a protest , and , boldly entering " Quality Court , " rung the bell at No . 2 , where stood the modest house of the mysterious Grogwitz . A smart maid-of-all-work answered the bell , and Mr . Miller , presenting his own card and Mr . Docket ' s note , was ushered by the young woman , ( with a sort of smile on her countenance , ) into a dingy little waitingroom of which the principal ornaments were a large hoto " of Grogwitz ( presumabl

, " p , y himself ) , and a globe of mournful , unhealthy-looking gold fishes . Mr . Miller used to like to say afterwards that he had hardly ever seen such a place as Quality Court , and the few glances he obtained of it made a deep and lasting impression upon him . Originally inhabited by a colony of clear-starchers ancl glue manufacturers , etc ., it had become a sort of collection of offices for peculiar trades