252 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



met Lady Benzoline for the first time at a 

 bazaar held in aid of Our Dumb Friends' 

 League, when I was so captivated by her 

 charms that she had no difficulty in persuading 

 me to purchase the entire contents of her stall. 



By the time I had bought seven hygienic 

 hand-embroidered nose-bags at four guineas 

 apiece I knew that I loved her passionately, 

 and she was beginning to suspect that after all 

 my intentions were honourable. I proposed to 

 her on the spot and was accepted, and it was 

 not until my fiancee had received my little 

 cheque in settlement of her bazaar account that 

 she discovered my name and realized the appal- 

 ling sacrifice that she was called upon to make on 

 the altar of love. The idea of becoming Lady 

 Benzoline Biffin was from the first repugnant to 

 her sensitive aristocratic nature, and the longer 

 she thought about it and the oftener she wTote 

 the word upon her blotting-pad the less did she 

 relish the change in store for her. It was in 

 vain that I pointed out the obvious advan- 

 tages attached to the similarity in our initials, 

 which would save her the trouble of having her 

 luggage repainted, and preclude the necessity 

 of re-marking the more intimate articles of her 

 personal attire. 



" No !" she exclaimed at length, when the 

 flow of my protestations had momentarily ceased. 



