I sent you by my servant?" inquired Dora, as Wagner was about to leave.

"I shall probably meet the bearer, and as she is a German, I shall easily recognize her. Perhaps Scharner has said something in it, of which we must talk on a future occasion."

“Well, then, au revoir," said Dora, giving him her hand.

"Au revoir," said Wagner, and when he left the room he felt as if part at least of a heavy load had been taken off his mind.

CHAPTER XXI.

A COLONIAL WIFE.

WAGNER felt so pre-occupied after his interview with Dora that he had no wish to meet anybody; consequently he forgot that he had to seek for Dora's servant, and ask her for the letter. Old Katherine, who had safely delivered her letter, passed by him in a bendi unheeded; and it was not till Nitschke met him and gave him the letter which had been intrusted to his charge, that he remembered the circumstance.

Nitschke was desirous of giving him a humorous description of the comical old woman who had scolded the astonished Malay in German, but Wagner was not in the humour to listen to him; so, taking the letter, he sprang again into his carriage, and told the coachman to drive as quickly as possible to Van Roeken's house.

But here some delay ensued; for the horse had been to the "Netherlands Hotel" and back, and as several fresh horses were in the stable, he thought it better to take one of them so while it was being harnessed, he sat down on a chair and began to read the letter that Mademoiselle Bernold had brought from Germany for him. It was very long and closely-written, and he had not finished it when the horse was ready. When, at length, he had read it through, he sat pondering a long time, till Nitschke informed him the bendi was waiting.

"Thank you," said Wagner; and springing into the carriage he told the driver to proceed as fast as possible.

N

On the road he again read the letter, and had not finished it when he reached Van Roeken's house. In the verandah Madame Van Roeken was seated on a Chinese chair, while a little Malay girl stood near fanning her, and receiving her orders about the dinner. Van Roeken was reading the newspaper, and smoking a cigar; but as soon as he saw Wagner, he came forward to meet him.

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Ah, Tuwan Wagner Tabé!" said Madame Van Roeken, without changing her position, and jabbering in her patois of Dutch, sprinkled with Malay. "How are you? I am glad you are come; we are just going to dine. Mr. Van Roeken is so tedious at dinner, for he only opens his mouth to put something into it."

"Good day, madam," said Wagner, shaking hands with her. "And how are you? Still bearing the weary burden of life! "

'Pretty well, sir, thank you; but we poor married women bear such a hard life, and our husbands never notice us. They are very different as long as they are bachelors."

"Have you seen her?" said Van Roeken in a whisper. 66 Yes; but we must speak about it alone." "What are you two gentlemen talking about in such a mysterious manner ?" inquired the lady.

"Business, my dear," answered her husband carelessly. "We do you a favour by not troubling you about it."

"It is very strange how much business Mr. Van Roeken has had to attend to since we were married. I never heard a word about it before then, and now he talks of nothing else."

"It is but an insignificant matter," said Wagner, who thought that now was a good time to tell his partner what he had done in regard to Nitschke. "I have been

telling your husband that I have taken a very wild sort of fellow into our employment, who promises that he will reform-Nitschke."

Van Roeken had the presence of mind to conceal his astonishment, or else his wife would have suspected something. He then said: "You could not have done anything worse, for Nitschke is a man who will never do any good. We shall have to turn him off again in three or four weeks."

I don't think so," remarked Wagner. quite humble, and

"He seems

"He has been like that ten or a dozen times already, and yet it has never prevented him from plunging deeper into dissipation. I still think we shall have the bother of keeping him for a short time only. But I must not say much, for I have done quite as badly as you. Do you know that this morning I engaged Horbach's former servant, a useless dog, as a packer."

"Is his name Tojiang?"

"The same. Do you know him?”

Oh, yes! he can work if he likes." "But he never does like."

"We'll see about that; and probably Nitschke knows the best way to go to work with him."

"Then he shall look after him; but what have you engaged him for?"

"For our English correspondence. He knows the language perfectly, and it is a great pity that he has not saved money by his knowledge long before this. Why, he has more in his little finger than Horbach has in his head."

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"By the bye, I wanted to speak to you about Horbach. I have just heard from one of the passengers who arrived

with the mail, that Horbach's father is dead, and has left him a large fortune."

"It cannot be too large for Horbach to spend,” said Wagner. "But how did you hear that to-day?"

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Why, to save the expense of postage, his relations asked a passenger to bring a letter for Horbach, and the man asked me where Horbach lived."

"And where is Horbach at present?"

"He has been for the last fortnight in the hospital. Don't you recollect he was found drunk one night, and had taken the fever in the Pasar Baroek. They have remitted a bill of exchange for him; so I think the best thing we can do is to go there after dinner, and see if he is well enough to be taken away from there."

"Yes; and as soon as he hears that he is so rich, he will drink himself to death for joy."

"There would be no great harm in that; but as long as he lives, we must do all we can to prevent it. He must not hear of his good fortune till he has quite recovered. Besides, he has led such a wild life lately, that rest and quiet will do him much good."

"Notwithstanding the unhealthy climate of Java, these two fellows Horbach and Nitschke have managed to live for a long time in the most dissipated manner, and have only had one severe illness, from which they could not have recovered quicker in Europe. Their bodies must be made of iron almost."

"Or spirit flasks. We ought to regard these two men as our special plagues, and I shall be very glad when they both quit the island for good."

"Now, do leave off your tedious business discussions,” said Madame Van Roeken, who was getting weary of a conversation that had no atraction for her.