mrs and a very merry party they had been mrs knowing of her son s obligations to the honest had after some yielded her consent to mr and mrs being invited out to tea in the way of which arrangement there were at first sundry difficulties and obstacles arising out of her not having had an opportunity of calling upon mrs first for although mrs very often observed with much complacency as most people do that she had not an of pride or formality about her she was a great for dignity and ceremonies and as life and adventures of it was manifest that until a call had been made she could not be politely speaking and according to the laws of society even of the fact of mrs s existence she felt her situation to be one of peculiar delicacy and difficulty the call must with me my dear said mrs that s indispensable the fact is my dear that it s necessary there should be a sort of condescension on my part and that i should show this young person that i am willing to take notice of her there s a very respectable looking young man added mrs after a short consideration who is conductor to one of the that go by here and who wears a glazed hat � your sister and i have noticed him very often � he has a upon his nose you know exactly like a gentleman s servant have all gentlemen s servants upon their noses mother asked my dear how very absurd you are returned his mother of course i mean that his glazed hat looks like a gentleman s servant and not the upon his nose � though even that is not so ridiculous as it may seem to you for we had a foot boy once who had not only a but a also and a very large too and he demanded to have his wages raised in consequence because he found it came very expensive let me see what was i � oh yes i know the best way that i can think of would be to send a card and my compliments i ve no doubt he d take em for a pot of porter by this young man to the with two necks � if the waiter took him for a gentleman s servant so much the better then all mrs would have to do would be to send her card back by the car he could easily come with a double knock and there s an end of it my dear mother said i don t suppose such people as these ever had a card of their own or ever will have oh that indeed my dear returned mrs s another thing if you put it upon that ground why of course i have no more to say than that i have no doubt they are very good sort of persons and that i have no kind of objection to their coming here to tea if they like and shall make a point of being very civil to them if they do the point being thus effectually set at rest and mrs duly placed in the and mildly position which became her rank and matrimonial years mr and mrs were invited and came and as they were very to mrs and seemed to have a becoming appreciation of her greatness and were very much pleased with everything the good lady had more than once given to understand in a whisper that she thought they were the very best meaning people she had ever seen and perfectly well behaved and thus it came to pass that john declared in the parlor after supper to wit at twenty minutes before eleven o clock p m that he had never been so happy in all his days nor was mrs much behind her husband in this respect for that young matron � whose rustic beauty contrasted very prettily with the more delicate loveliness of and without suffering by the contrast either for each served as it were to set off and the other � could not sufficiently admire the life and adventures of gentle and winning manners of the or the engaging of the elder one then had the art of turning the conversation to subjects upon which the country girl at first in strange company could feel herself at home and if mrs was not quite so at times in the selection of topics of discourse or if she did as mrs expressed it rather high in her notions still nothing could be kinder and that she took considerable interest in the young couple was manifest from the very long lectures on with which she was bo obliging as to entertain mrs s private ear which were illustrated by various to the domestic economy of the cottage in which those falling exclusively upon the good lady had about as much share either in theory or practice as any one of the statues of the twelve which the exterior of st paul s cathedral mr said addressing his young wife is the best the kindest and creature i ever saw if i were oppressed with i don t know how many cares it would make me happy only to look at him he does seem indeed upon my word a most excellent creature said mrs most excellent and i am sure that at all times it will give me pleasure � really pleasure now � to have you mrs to see me in this plain and homely manner we make no display said mrs with an air which seemed to that they could make a vast deal if they were so disposed � no fuss no preparation i wouldn t allow it i said my dear you will only make mrs feel and how very and that would be i am very obliged to you i am 