man who was not more than five years older
than her father, and who had never been married,
was known to be immensely rich, and to have
the best cook and the best cellar in British
India. Colonel Fathix was not more than fifty-
nine, or perhaps sixty, when he proposed to
Annie, and having for many years been looked
upon as quite a gay young bachelor, retained
still that brevet rank in "society." His friends
always thought that Fathix would leave India,
when his time for retiring from the service came
round, without a wife, and consequently were
both astonished and annoyed when they
perceived he was paying his addresses to "that
strapping fine girl, sir," as they called Annie
Stevens. In India people live fast, and courtships
are invariably short as well as decisive.
The fact of Colonel Fathix being at the head of
the Department in which Annie's father held a
post, was enough of itself to make people certain
that his suit would be accepted. And it would
have been a good thing in the monetary way for
the Deputy-Commissary-General, if Annie could
have seen matters through a pair of Indian
spectacles. However, she did not, and rejected
when it was offered the hand of her ancient
military admirer, as she had that of her civil
adorer, the old Sudder Judge.

After having "jawaubed"—an Anglo-Indian
term, which means, answered, or refused—two
such very eligible persons in one month, Annie
Stevens had not what the Americans call "a
good time" of it with her parents. Father and
mother looked upon her as a child who might
have forwarded their interests in life very greatly,
but who had, upon two separate occasions,
deliberately thrown away as many excellent
chances. Her father, the Deputy-Commissary,
felt this very severely, and in more ways than
one. He was a poor man, and needed a much
better appointment than the one he held, in
order to pay what he owed, put by a little
money, retire in due time from the service, and
go home. With either a Sudder Judge or a
Commissary-General—  rather let us say the
Commissary-General, for there is but one in each
Indian Presidency—as son-in-law, he would have
been certain of advancement in the service, and
would, in all probability, have attained his object
in a very few years. Not only, however, had that
hope vanished, but his chief, Colonel Fathix,
looked very black at him, hardly spoke when
they met, and even in their official communications
was now as laconic and disagreeable
as possible. The fact was, the old boy had
given out when the Sudder Judge was
"jawaubed" by Miss Stevens, that he, the aforesaid
Fathix, could "go in and win," what the civilian
had not been able to secure. So sure was this
gay dog of winning his bride, that he made
sundry bets at the Bengal Club and elsewhere
—"three to one in gold mohrs," and six to two
in dozens of " Simpkin"*— backing himself to
win the fair Annie, and make her his bride
within a certain number of months. He had
lost his bets, and was not by any means improved
in temper thereby, the more so as sundry old
fellows of his own standing in the service used
to joke him about wearing the willow, and
similar old-fashioned jests.
* A "gold mohr" means sixteen rupees, or thirty-
two shillings. "Simpkin" is the Anglo-Indian for
champagne.

Annie's parents believed that, however fine a
girl—and that she was as fine a young woman
as ever landed on the Hooghly there can be
no doubt—their daughter was, she would now
never be able to marry. "I only ask you,"
said the poor old lady, Mrs. Stevens, when she
poured out her griefs to some of her familiar
friends —" I only ask you how it is possible that
any man would propose for a girl who has
thrown over a Sudder Judge and a Commissary-
General. I am sure she will live and die an old
maid."

But this prophecy, like many others, was
destined to prove false. Within a month after
she refused the Commissary-General, Annie
met at a Government House ball John Milson,
who was then the Commandant of an
irregular regiment, a major by brevet, and a
Companion of the Bath. Milson had come down to
the presidency on leave of absence. His reputation
as a soldier was already pretty well known,
and as a not slight additional recommendation,
he was a man of more than average good
looks, with that deference for the weaker sex
which always makes its way with women, and a
total absence from that self-sufficient puppyism,
which of all other things they hate the most.
The first day he saw Annie he admired her very
much; the second he liked her more than he
admired her; the third he was desperately in
love. A fortnight later—for, as I said before,
in India people live fast—he proposed to her
in the verandah of old Currise's house; for, by
the advice of his counsellor, old Mrs. Fancsome,
that infatuated Judge had given an immense ball
to the whole "society" of Calcutta, in the
hopes that Annie might, by seeing the magnificence
of his establishment, repent her of the
"jawaub," and consent to become the second
Mrs. Currise. Amongst other guests Major
Milson had been asked, and having previously
ascertained that Annie was to be there, he went
to the ball determined to know his fate. The
host had to be attentive to so many great people
of "society" during the evening, that he had
little time to devote to Miss Stevens.
However, he managed after supper—the old fellow
could not dance, and this alone, as they say on
the turf, "weighted" him very heavily in the
race for a wife—to get a few minutes' conversation
with her, and ended a somewhat nervous
harangue by asking her to become his wife.
Annie was a frank, open-hearted girl, and
although she was really grateful and pitied the
old Judge, could not resist the pleasure of a
joke. She curtseyed very low to him in reply,
and said that she had barely half an hour before
accepted the hand of another gentleman.

"And pray may I ask," said the astonished
Currise, "who the fortunate individual is?" and
was not a little surprised when she named Major
Milson. "Milson, Milson?" he kept repeating,