CONTENTS

I.[A DISTANT VIEW]
II.[A LONELY EYRIE]
III.[PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT]
IV.[DEPARTURE]
V.[ROCKED IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP]
VI.[PAUL]
VII.[A MORNING WALK]
VIII.[AN INTRODUCTION TO MRS. GRUNDY]
IX.[MRS. AARONS]
X.[THE FIRST INVITATION]
XI.[DISAPPOINTMENT]
XII.[TRIUMPH]
XIII.[PATTY IN UNDRESS]
XIV.[IN THE WOMB OF FATE]
XV.[ELIZABETH FINDS A FRIEND]
XVI.["WE WERE NOT STRANGERS, AS TO US AND ALL IT SEEMED"]
XVII.[AFTERNOON TEA]
XVIII.[THE FAIRY GODMOTHER]
XIX.[A MORNING AT THE EXHIBITION]
XX.[CHINA v. THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY]
XXI.[THE "CUP"]
XXII.[CROSS PURPOSES]
XXIII.[MR. YELVERTON'S MISSION]
XXIV.[AN OLD STORY]
XXV.[OUT IN THE COLD]
XXVI.[WHAT PAUL COULD NOT KNOW]
XXVII.[SLIGHTED]
XXVIII.["WRITE ME AS ONE WHO LOVES HIS FELLOW-MEN"]
XXIX.[PATTY CONFESSES]
XXX.[THE OLD AND THE NEW]
XXXI.[IN RETREAT]
XXXII.[HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF]
XXXIII.[THE DRIVE HOME]
XXXIV.[SUSPENSE]
XXXV.[HOW ELIZABETH MADE UP HER MIND]
XXXVI.[INVESTIGATION]
XXXVII.[DISCOVERY]
XXXVIII.[THE TIME FOR ACTION]
XXXIX.[AN ASSIGNATION]
XL.[MRS. DUFF-SCOTT HAS TO BE RECKONED WITH]
XLI.[MR. YELVERTON STATES HIS INTENTIONS]
XLII.[HER LORD AND MASTER]
XLIII.[THE EVENING BEFORE THE WEDDING]
XLIV.[THE WEDDING DAY]
XLV.[IN SILK ATTIRE]
XLVI.[PATTY CHOOSES HER CAREER]
XLVII.[A FAIR FIELD AND NO FAVOUR]
XLVIII.[PROBATION]
XLIX.[YELVERTON]
L.["THY PEOPLE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE"]
LI.[PATIENCE REWARDED]
LII.[CONCLUSION]

THE THREE MISS KINGS.

[CHAPTER I.]

A DISTANT VIEW.

On the second of January, in the year 1880, three newly-orphaned sisters, finding themselves left to their own devices, with an income of exactly one hundred pounds a year a-piece, sat down to consult together as to the use they should make of their independence.

The place where they sat was a grassy cliff overlooking a wide bay of the Southern Ocean—a lonely spot, whence no sign of human life was visible, except in the sail of a little fishing boat far away. The low sun, that blazed at the back of their heads, and threw their shadows and the shadow of every blade of grass into relief, touched that distant sail and made it shine like bridal satin; while a certain island rock, the home of sea-birds, blushed like a rose in the same necromantic light. As they sat, they could hear the waves breaking and seething on the sands and stones beneath them, but could only see the level plain of blue and purple water stretching from the toes of their boots to the indistinct horizon. That particular Friday was a terribly hot day for the colony, as weather records testify, but in this favoured spot it had been merely a little too warm for comfort, and, the sea-breeze coming up fresher and stronger as the sun went down, it was the perfection of an Australian summer evening at the hour of which I am writing.

"What I want," said Patty King (Patty was the middle one), "is to make a dash—a straight-out plunge into the world, Elizabeth—no shilly-shallying and dawdling about, frittering our money away before we begin. Suppose we go to London—we shall have enough to cover our travelling expenses, and our income to start fair with—surely we could live anywhere on three hundred a year, in the greatest comfort—and take rooms near the British Museum?—or in South Kensington?—or suppose we go to one of those intellectual German towns, and study music and languages? What do you think, Nell? I am sure we could do it easily if we tried."