“What in the name of mischief!” cried a voice, and there was the mistress of the house standing in the doorway.  Her gaze at first had merely taken in the fact that two strangers were standing screaming upon her red plush sofa.  A glance at the fireplace, however, showed her the cause of the terror, and she burst into a hearty fit of laughter.

“Charley,” she shouted, “here’s Eliza misbehaving again.”

“I’ll settle her,” answered a masculine voice, and the young man dashed into the room.  He had a brown horse-cloth in his hand, which he threw over the basket, making it fast with a piece of twine so as to effectually imprison its inmate, while his aunt ran across to reassure her visitors.

“It is only a rock snake,” she explained.

“Oh, Bertha!” “Oh, Monica!” gasped the poor exhausted gentlewomen.

“She’s hatching out some eggs.  That is why we have the fire.  Eliza always does better when she is warm.  She is a sweet, gentle creature, but no doubt she thought that you had designs upon her eggs.  I suppose that you did not touch any of them?”

“Oh, let us get away, Bertha!” cried Monica, with her thin, black-gloved hands thrown forwards in abhorrence.

“Not away, but into the next room,” said Mrs. Westmacott, with the air of one whose word was law.  “This way, if you please!  It is less warm here.”  She led the way into a very handsomely appointed library, with three great cases of books, and upon the fourth side a long yellow table littered over with papers and scientific instruments.  “Sit here, and you, there,” she continued.  “That is right.  Now let me see, which of you is Miss Williams, and which Miss Bertha Williams?”

“I am Miss Williams,” said Monica, still palpitating, and glancing furtively about in dread of some new horror.

“And you live, as I understand, over at the pretty little cottage.  It is very nice of you to call so early.  I don’t suppose that we shall get on, but still the intention is equally good.”  She crossed her legs and leaned her back against the marble mantelpiece.

“We thought that perhaps we might be of some assistance,” said Bertha, timidly.  “If there is anything which we could do to make you feel more at home——­”

“Oh, thank you, I am too old a traveler to feel anything but at home wherever I go.  I’ve just come back from a few months in the Marquesas Islands, where I had a very pleasant visit.  That was where I got Eliza.  In many respects the Marquesas Islands now lead the world.”

“Dear me!” ejaculated Miss Williams.  “In what respect?”

“In the relation of the sexes.  They have worked out the great problem upon their own lines, and their isolated geographical position has helped them to come to a conclusion of their own.  The woman there is, as she should be, in every way the absolute equal of the male.  Come in, Charles, and sit down.  Is Eliza all right?”