says :— • "Did you ever keep a squirrel? This
perfect lady of mine indulges me with much forward chatter. To me it is a sort of lover's talk—sweet nothings and gnrglings in my ear, close; but you should watch her goings-on with my servant when it is the luncheon hour ! He calls her down from her bedrooms. She appears with many a squeak and gurgle. She stops, and he asks her whether toast or milk is to her mind. She -replies with much definite emphasis. Then he talks to her—then she; never the two together, shouting each other down as do chattering foreigners. When he stops then she starts, and after a sentence or two With the prettiest pose of the head, waits to hear his view of affairs. It is really too sweet. I am beginning to know all her little ways now, and even when she feels out of sorts. Never yet has she lost her temper with me, though in the midst of a great romp she sometimes gets a trifle over-excited and bites a wee bit too hard; but if you then smack her she shows a proper resentment by retiring to sulk, and all you can then do is leave her to recover. The man who breeds butterflies was on board yesterday. and agreed to bring down a mate for her from the hills. The Com- mander proposes to own it, and we may then as well marry them and have baby squgs. It will be another interest in life now that I have abandoned gardening efforts in my cabin."
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