made their warm home of it for a hundred years-that is, since the "thekker" first laid it upon the rafters. Strangers say as they enter the porch of the "Three Fishes" by a glass-panelled door, and tread upon the red tiles of a short passage, "Eh! but this is an oldfashioned inn." Very soon they bend their heads to a low doorway. Then they see how comfortable the "Three Fishes" is, with its great rooms and its little rooms, with its big beams heavily hanging, with its open hearth in the flagged taproom, with its barred grate in the parlour. And if the windows of the "Three Fishes” are narrow, the darkness which rests against here a plank, there a plaster wall, is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They say so, those strangers, though they clip their words to Milverton ears.

The Birches had been married but a very little while when they heard a rumour that the Walkers were going to give up the management of the "Three Fishes." And a friend of both parties said to Birch, "Garge, there's a chance for yer. Why don't you take on the old inn?”

George Birch was a market gardener in a very small way. His hands were rough with hard manual labour. To be landlord at the "Three Fishes"! The idea almost took away his breath. It was such a beautiful home. But he liked a joke! "I am going tew," he

answered.

Some people do not understand jokes. George's friend told several men that young Birch and his wife were going to take the "Three Fishes." The news spread quickly throughout Milverton. First came one, and then another, and another to George. They treated the matter very seriously-so seriously that it astonished him out. of his laughter. And he asked himself, why he should not become landlord of the "Three Fishes?" He had saved a little money, which would go towards the first year's rent. The garden at the back of the inn, it was good soil, it would come in handy to his business. The stable, he could put his pony in it. Dang! but he would work up the trade, and make his fortune.

He mentioned the matter to Kitty, his wife. It frightened her.. But George was strong; she clung to him, she listened. A while and she spoke. George knew that she would do her best, if hard work could help. George knew how bright she had kept her kitchen when she was in service. George knew how she loved him—but she was

happy as she was.

George Birch was young and newly married. pleasant to show a manly determination before his wife.

It was very
Quickly then

he placed his pony to his trap, and drove to the brewery at Datchforth

Town. The gentleman there asked him many questions. George answered straightforwardly. Soon it was arranged; it would be all right, Mister Birch should have the gentleman's "tied" house-the "Three Fishes" at Milverton. And what would he take to drink?

The Walkers were anxious to leave the "Three Fishes." They did not like the business, they told people.

George went to Walker, and spoke to him very civilly. "I should like to come in as soon as possible," he said. And his face was very anxious, very eager.

Walker was solemn, but very friendly. "I am on the look-out for a grocer's shop in Datchforth," he answered. "As soon as I am suited to my liking, I move at once."

Later, Walker had a chat with Mrs. Walker when she returned from market. "George Birch was round this afternoon," he said; "he wants to know when we'll be a moving."

"Ah!" exclaimed Mrs. Walker, "wait till 'e 'as been 'ere a twelvemonth. P'raps 'e will be in as much of a hurry to get out as 'e is to get in." She shook her head gloomily.

The visit of George to the "Three Fishes" was followed by others at short intervals. Each morning when he awoke he felt anxious to know whether the Walkers had secured a shop at Datchforth, and as the days passed on, and found them still unsuited, he asked their permission to move some of his furniture into the "Three Fishes." It was granted readily enough. Kitty, too, went timidly with her husband. She was commencing to feel the responsibilities of her coming position as landlady. And she wished to take thorough stock of the house and its capabilities for that bright neatness which she determined beforehand should reign within and without. It was a pleasant, though anxious time; and the young couple never wearied of putting questions to the Walkers about the business and its management. Withal, George worked very hard in his gardens.

- Kitty Birch possessed beautiful eyes. Their colour was hidden amidst a soft light that always shone straightly forth. It was this light which was so beautiful, and whose rays gave pleasures of confidence and kindly feeling. Perhaps these eyes were most beautiful when they were looking wistfully over green fields or yearningly at the high heavens; but they were also lovely when the "Three Fishes" opened its doors to rough and thirsty men. Then they veiled to a mist of shyness.

Milverton has other inns besides the "Three Fishes." There are the "Spotted Dog" and the "King's Head." When the Birches

opened the "Three Fishes," the customers of the "Spotted Dog" and the "King's Head" suddenly came to them. Men did not reason; they were thirsty, and they felt that they would like to drink at the "Three Fishes," where there was the excitement of a great company and new hosts. This was natural. But what a business it brought to George and Kitty! Life grew strangely wonderful to them. It was so full, so varied. And yet they—they were the same.

George Birch had been very hopeful. "I shall do a two-barrel business a week," he had said to Kitty. He was doing four. Understand then the coming and going from the "Three Fishes," the much laughter, the many voices.

By day it was Kitty who served customers, and who rose from meals with food in her mouth, who quitted her work of cooking, of sewing, of cleaning. For George was at work in his gardens. By busier night 'twas both Kitty and George who served. customers, and then two pairs of hands were scarcely enough.

The country about Milverton is very flat. At no great distance from the village crawls a sluggish river. When the heavy rains of autumn came they grew anxious at the "Three Fishes." Friends said, "The river is rising fast;" and truly they could see it from the back door lapping towards them over the green fields. One night, just before closing hour, the flags of the taproom grew damp. Then George and Kitty made up their minds; they commenced to move their furniture to the upper rooms of the inn. It was very wise; by the morning the broad waters had entered the "Three Fishes." And they were very grateful at the "Spotted Dog" and "King's Head," which stood drily upon higher ground.

The water which had entered the "Three Fishes" brought with it a strange silence. Amidst that silence George and Kitty told one another how hard they had been working. For the first time since they had taken the "Three Fishes" they folded their hands and were content to rest. But when the waters fell they were troubled, for the inn remained very damp, and much mud lay. It was now that the "Three Fishes" was very uncomfortable, and that custom sought the dry hearths of the "Spotted Dog" and "King's Head."

Autumn gave place to winter. George Birch had become a father. But fortune no longer smiled upon him. To the world he said that

But to Kitty he said much credit to men

the autumn flood had diverted his custom. that he had made a mistake, that he had given who did not wish to pay, who now drank at the "King's Head" or Spotted Dog." Kitty was his wife. She made excuses, though her heart was faint with experience. She said:

"But what could you have done with Ned? He paid reg'lar and 'onest for weeks together. Then one day he said he'd left his money at home; he asked you to chalk him up a pint, friendly-like. That was 'ow 'e began. That was 'ow they all began."

"Dang 'im!" answered George Birch bitterly. "He knew what he was about. And you won't see him or the others 'ere again till they have run out o' tick at the 'Spotted Dog' and 'King's Head.' Trust 'em for that."

Kitty sighed. "P'raps not," she answered meekly, "but we must be thankful that we have kept the house respectable.

no trouble that way."

We 'ave 'ad

George Birch was in a gloomy frame of mind. "It's well as we 'ave," he answered. "A publican ain't got no friends. He's a bad'un to the parson, and a bad'un to the magistrate. And let there be a disturbance in 'is 'ouse, and he soon knows it. Roight or wrong." Kitty heaved a deeper sigh, but did not reply. She knew how difficult it was for a weak woman to refuse to serve drink to a drunken man.

There were other troubles upon George Birch's shoulders besides a dwindling custom. Experience was showing him that the profit upon beer sold from a "tied" house is sometimes small, and that the rent of the "Three Fishes" took a lot of "making up." His gardens, too, had been failing him under a bad season and low prices, though he had worked early and late. It was not to be wondered at that George Birch was growing thin.

Time passed. Matters did not mend, they grew worse at the "Three Fishes." Kitty saw that to work hard was not enough. She ate very little meat, she sold every egg that her fowls laid. Gradually she grew weak. Soon she seldom left the "Three Fishes," there was so much work to be done in order to save a penny here and a penny there. And when she did leave it, the open air made her feel ill. "It was so strong," she said.

George Birch reflected by day and by wearier night. Would he, must he give up the "Three Fishes"? Was he to be ruined for want of the custom that would not return? He asked Kitty; she sobbed, the tears came into her eyes, for the world without was very wide, and she loved her home and her little babe.

Through black night was softly falling a white snow. But for its crisping rustle, and a footfall tramping sleepily home, there was silence in Milverton.

Midst yellow light sat Kitty in her parlour at the "Three Fishes." With her toe she was rocking a cradle. Sleepily creaked

the cradle 'midst the listening silence of the inn, for the taproom was empty of voice and laugh.

Kitty ran her thumb harshly down the seam of a piece of new calico that she was stitching. Such a little noise, but it echoed through the quiet inn. Kitty sighed; once all had been so different, and now it was so sad.

It was

The wheels of a clock whirred quickly and caught. about to strike ten. Kitty raised her head. She heard a dull roll of wheels entering the snow-filled yard of the "Three Fishes." She stood up, and went to a cupboard. She drew from it a rind of cheese and a piece of bread. As she placed them upon the table the back-door of the inn opened masterfully, and George Birch came with very hasty steps to her side. His eyes were shining with excitement. "I 'ave been and done it," he said with a gay laugh.

Kitty Birch opened her eyes widely. For weeks there had not been such a cheerful ring in her husband's voice. "Done wot?" she asked nervously.

"Whoy! Done the trick," answered George boisterously.

For the moment a suspicion crossed Kitty's mind that her husband had given way to his troubles and had been drinking at Datchforth. Her face clouded with anxiety. George noticed the change of expression. "It is all right, ole gal," he said kindly. “Let us have our supper, and I'll tell you what I've been a doing at Datchforth."

Kitty went quickly to the taproom and drew a pint of beer. She placed it before George, who had sat down to table in the little parlour. He took a long draught; afterwards he leant back in his chair with a sigh of relief, and passed the back of his hand across his mouth. "Now tell us, George," said Kitty wheedlingly.

George Birch felt proud of what he had done at Datchforth. "Look 'ere!" he said with a sudden seriousness, "you know and Oi know as 'ow things are going very bad with us. To-night, for instance, who 'ave you 'ad 'ere?"

"Only Jim, for a 'arf pint o' four ale," answered Kitty mournfully.

"That is it," said George. "They go to the King's Head' and the 'Spotted Dog.' And they will go to the 'King's Head' and the 'Spotted Dog' unless we can draw 'em back 'ere again."

George paused. He wished the difficulties of the present position to sink deeply into Kitty's mind. He would presently gather greater glorification in her eyes for his action at Datchforth. impatiently. "Go on, George. Do!" she said.

Kitty waited