She also hated English newspapers, but lately some queer new notable Australian things had been appearing in the _St.George's Gazette_--Cardiff had sent them to her--and she selected this journal from the damp lot that hung, over the newsboy's arm, on the chance of a fresh one.

The doors were locked and the train hurried on.
Elfrida ate two of her Banbury cakes with the malediction that only this British confection can inspire, and bestowed the rest upon a small boy who eyed her enviously over the back of an adjoining seat She and the small boy and his mother had the carriage to themselves.
There was nothing from the unusual Australian contributor in this number of the _St.George's_, and Elfrida turned its pages with the bored feeling of knowing what else she might expect.

"Parliamentary Debates," of course, and the news of London, five lines from America announcing the burning of a New York hotel with hideous loss of life, an article on the situation in Persia, and one on the cultivation of artichokes, "Money," "The Seer of Hawarden," the foreign markets--book reviews.

Elfrida thought also that she knew what she might expect here, and that it would be nothing very absorbing.

Still, with a sense of tasting criticism in advance, she let her eye travel over the column or two the paper devoted to three or four books of the week.