legislator, and on his return to the vehicle, asked as to my whereabouts. They told him I had walked a little distance along the street, then mounted a flanilla, and proceeded farther in the same direction, and that if they followed, doubtless they would meet we coming back.
“We did not go far, however,” he continued, when we met the flanilla coming back riderless. I conjectured that you might have got a fall, so we proceeded at full speed till we saw you. You were lying on your back, senseless of course, beside two pools of blood, and apparently dead.”
Vandalia now returned, bringing us some fresh fruit, but did not remain long.
I found the balcony a charming place, and the garden below appeared to be well supplied with fruits and flowers. I made some reference to the President's Ball. He said it was held annually, and was the general signal for the commencement of the Fall Holidays, which lasted about three months, i.e. till the sun disappeared below the horizon.
“You have long holidays,” I interjected.
“Yes,” was the reply. “Formerly they were not so long. However, we find that the country is just as prosperous (generally believed to be more so) as it was during the period referred to. When
