“Mr. Wallace, in the matter of the—ah, of certain refreshments, in which we had rendered a mental ruling incidental to the costs thereof, we would say that ruling is hereby reversed and the—the refreshments—are on—the Court.”

LOST AND FOUND

By John Kendrick Bangs

I

The week-end was over, and Begbie had returned to town, restless, and strangely unhappy. There was within him a curious sense of something lost, and yet, now and then, the intimation of another something that seemed to be gain wholly would flash across the horizon of his reflections like a ray of sunshine attempting to penetrate a possible rift in the clouds.

He unpacked his suit-case listlessly, and compared its contents with the catalogue of his week-end needs which he always kept pasted on the inner side of the cover of his suit-case. Everything was there, from hair-brush to dinner-coat—and yet that sense of something left behind still oppressed him. A second time he went over the list and compared it with his possessions, to find that nothing was missing; and then on a sudden there flashed across his mind a full realization of what the lost object was.

“Ah!” he ejaculated with a deep sigh of relief.

“That’s it! I will write at once to my hostess and ask her to return it.”

Action followed the resolution, and, seating himself at his escritoire, Begbie wrote:

“The Mossmere, New York.