The state journal., 1884-11-22

pieces OuL vi tue paper do ldI ID lAO oNN
ond floor. With this exception nothing
particularly distressing occurred tina
evening, but the very next morning
mamma in-law made her appearance o.
breakfast (rather late) in a flannel dress
ing gown and curl papers. NOW, II there
is anything / hate more than f1anne
dressing gown it is curl papers; and i
there is anything | hate more than curl
naners it is a flannel dressing gown. 81
make myself quite at home, my dears,
YOU see. twas her first greeting, shaking
her rl-papers as she was wont to do her
curls, though by no means with the same
effect thought she did, confound her
but swallowed my annoyance and ven
tured to hope she had slept well. No, if
she must tell the truth (Which she
needn't to have done on my account.
sure), not very we'll She never did like
those new fanged spring mattresses
Nothing like her old.tashioned feather
bed at home for her. (The retort was
obvious, but of course | didn't make it,
And then again she couldn't help think
ing that the sheets were not quite aired,
and there was certainly draught from
that left hand window. promised that
all these little matters should be seen to,
and asked her if l might help her to an
egg or a rasher of bacon. Thank you, no;
l m really afraid. Eggs make me bilious
and bacon ALWAYS dlsagrees with me; but
if you happen to have such thing as
bloater in the house, now Ofcourse
we didn't happen to have such a thing in
the house, but promised that our estab.
lishment should be kept permanently
provided with bloaters for the future, and
the dear woman kindly accepted three
pork sausages as a temporary substitute
q may mention incidentally that l or
dered quarter of hundred of real Var
mouth for her the very same day. She
ate two of them, and then dis
covered that bloaters made her so dread
fully thirsty. No other member of our
household cared for them, and the remain
inA twenty-three, after giving sort Of
sea-air to the establishment for fortnight
were ultimately given to the milkman.)
The first thing after breakfast, the dear
creature said sweetly, Now, Rosie, my
love. give me your keys, and I'll set
your store cupboard to rights for you.
don't intend you to be bothered with any
house keeping during the week or two l
am with you" Marke the delicate cres-
cendo-she only said one week at first, but
now it has got to a week or two. My
poor little wife looked rather crestfallen,
for she enjoyed the discharge of her new
duties as mistress, but the habit
Of obedience was still strong,
and she was about to hand
over the insignia of authority when
came to the rescue. mo, no, mammal
that won't do. Rosie makes capital
little housekeeper, and Want her to have
as much practice as possible. She must bus
tie about more than ever during the short
time you are here" Il thought that was
rather neatly putt $50 that she may have
the full benefit of your experience. Rosie
gave me a grateful look, and pocketed
the keys again, while Mrs. d. tried to
look as if she didn't mind in the least,
and wagged her curl papers more play
fully than ever.
Istarted on my daily round, to look in
at the hospital and call on my few pa
tents, and did not return until dinner
time My little wife came out to meet
me in the hall with by no means her
usual smiling face; indeed it struck me
that her eyes were little red. did not
make any remark until we were left
olOAC' ACA INV uiiOu viz NouSO' AHO
poor little woman tried hard to maintain
her composure, but it was not until after
she had had good cry on my shoulder
that | extracted from her, by degrees,
that mamma had been 'going on" at her
so, telling her that she did pretty nearly
everything wrong that she felt quite dis
couraged and miserable. | comforted her
as best l could. The dinner, for the first
time since our marriage, was failure;
and Mrs. ID. did not improve matters by
remarking in her sweetest manner, that
she feared all along it would be so. If
dear Rosie had only taken her advice,
and hadn't doAe this and had done that,
and had been leetls more particular
about something else, all would have
been as it should be. or course took my
wife's part, and testified, with some
warmth, that up to that day the cookery
had always been perfection. Mrs. D.
drew herself up, and for the remainder
Of the meal retired within herself, from
which dignifed but constrained position it
took three glasses Of my best Madeira to
extricate her.
We had hitherto been accustomed to
have little music every evening, but we
were debarred from that pleasure by Mrs.
d. taking possession of the sofa in the
drawing room, and going to sleep imme-
diately after dinner. 1t struck me that if
she objected to the sound of the piano. she
might as well betake herself to some other
room, and tried few chords, to see if
she would take the hint and retire; but
she merely opened her eyes with the air
of a saint in the act of martyrdom, and
family remarked that she feared one of
her dreadful headaches was coming on
again. OF course, under such circum-
stances, music was out of the question,
and my reading aloud TO my wife, which
was another of our enjoyments, was
equally tabooed. In desperation, limited
to Rosie that we had better return to the
dining room, but the sleeping beauty on
the sofa languidly opened her eyes and
said, "Pray keep me company, my dears;
assure you you don't disturb me in the
least" which, if snoring is a sign of I'M
disturbed repOse, we certainly didn't
She continued to doze for the remainder
of the evening, but if by any chance /
pressed my wife hand, or ventured on
any other little conjugal endearment, one
eye of the sleeper would slowly open,
and gaze at me with an expression-1
really hardly know iOhGt expression, but
the effect was awful. Nobody. who hasn't
tried it, can imagine the nameless horror.
the uncanny and witch-lIke fascination,
that is contained in the steadfast gaze of
single eye, particularly if that eye be.
longs to mother-in.law.
The evening came to an end at last,
and was followed by several others, as
like it as possible. My wife and /, who
had been accustomed to make sweet
music together, or to sit side by side and
hand in hand, on the sofa, enjoying the
last new magazine, now sat in grim pro-
priety on opposite sides of the fireplace,
hardly venturing to talk above our
breath for fear of disturbing mamma-in.
law whose nasal nnhicleide kent I'D a