Year: 1879

wife professed her inability to discover
any fault in what was prepared for the
table, protesting that it was in perfect
accord with her own taste.


The following day Major Flint seated
himself at the dinner table, his mind
filled with various emotions. He was
growing thin, he felt sure; not a good,
square meal had he eaten for three
days.


This woman will he the death of
me, sure as fate, )" he said to himself ,gaz-
ing at the food placed before him.


Here was the rich, juicy steak that he
himself selected and sent from the mar
ket, after all his instructions as to how
it should be broiled, shockingly over
done-in fact, almost burned to crisp,
his wife, meanwhile, partaking of it
with evident relish.


What taste that woman must
have ~ he said, with Mortified eyes.


have made you an extra cup of
tea, today" said the lady opposite,
handing him a cup with his dessert.


Hitherto Mr.. Flint had been very par
ticular in regard to his cup of tea at des-
sert, insisting that it should be brought
to the table both strong and hot. Had
the tea been prepared to his taste, it
would have smoothed somewhat the
riotous emotions within; on the con-
trary, it was miserably weak-quite
lukewarm and brackish. He took one
sip at the tea, and then set the cup down
forcibly on the table, his face expressing
the disgust he really felt.


Madam glanced up at him from under
her long eyelashes, slipping from her cup
industriously, that her facial muscles
might not betray the amusement she
felt.


81 knew you would pronounce the
tea excellent this time, u she said.


This was too much. His rage, his
disgust fairly boiled over.


"Tea, madam Tea ~ he roared.. :
"Such abominable stuff. Tea, is it Ex-
cellent, is it p-excellentI"


at is excellent" said madam, sweet
ly, taking him at his word and ignor-
ing the exclamation points utterly
"Mamma taught me to make tea when
1 was ten years of age


Major Flint had stood fire for three
whole days, but flesh and blood could
endure it no longer. Not waiting to
hear more, he bounded to his feet and
rushed into the hall. Here he seized
his hat in both hands, jammed it down
over his eyes, and started for the street.
Then, as if forgetful of something, he
retraced his steps, and, thrusting his
head through the partially opened door,
almost shouted:


"In Heavens name, madam, can you
tell me where Mrs. Burns went when
she left here ?"


81 think,'' said madam, deliberately
eff my memory serves me rightly,
heard her speak of stopping with her
little girl at Mrs. Marsh's till she could
secure situation"


81 thought the tea would finish him.
said Mrs. Flint amusedly watching from
the window her husbands retreating
form, the click of his boot heels ringing
like bell as he brought his feet vigor.
ously down on the pavement, the small
boys cycling him askance and fastening
out of his way, wondering if he was
racing for wager.


" 1t is, perhaps, needless to say that
before the evening closed Mrs. Burns
was again installed in her old rooms al
the Flint mansion.


1t is useless" said the Major, mourn
fully, that evening, in the solitude Of
his apartment; CT might as well at
tempt to move the huge boulders on
yonder mountain-top as to contend with
that woman, wife number two"


And he never did. For whenever his
wife appealed to him in regard to the
children or the domestic arrangements
he would answer, meekly


My dear, do as you think best"


And Mrs. Flint owed her success tC
the fact that she never touched upon
her husbands real prerogatives, but re.
spected them as she claimed respect fol
her own.


And so that is how she managed
him.