ever temporary
melancholy overtook me I moved into the club for a month, or
slipped across the water, finding in the change of scene
immediate relief from the monotony of widowerhood.

In thus fortifying myself against the wiles of woman I was much
abetted by my good Prudence, who never ceased her exhortations as
to the sinister designs of her sex, and who had a ready word of
discouragement for any possible candidate who might be in the
line of succession. "I see that Rogers woman walkin' by the house
to-day, Mr. John," she would begin, "and I see her turnin' her
nose up at the new paint on the arbor." (I selected that color
myself.) "It's queer how that woman does give herself airs,
considerin' everybody knows she's been ready for ten years to
take the fust man that asks her." Prudence knew that I had
escorted the elderly Miss Rogers to the theatre only the week
before, and had commented pleasantly on the elegance of her
figure. But the slight put upon my eye for color was too much.
Wily Prudence!

Or a day or two after I had rendered an act of neighborly
kindness to the bereaved Mrs. Stebbins she would say quite
casually:

"I don't want to utter one word agin the poor and afflicted, Mr.
John, but when the Widder Stebbins hit Cleo with a broom to-day I
own I b'iled over. I shouldn't tell you if it warn't my duty."

Cleopatra was my favorite cocker spaniel, and any faint
impression my fair neighbor may have made on my unguarded heart
was immediately dispelled. Thus subtly and vigilantly my
house-keeper kept the outer gates of the citadel, and shooed away
a possible mistress as effectually as she dispersed the predatory
hens from the garden patch.

But with the younger generation of women, good Prudence was less
cautious. Any maiden under the very early twenties she regarded
fair material for my friendly offices, and frequently she visited
me with expressions commendatory of good conduct.

"I likes to see you with the children, Mr. John, bless 'em, sir.
And they do all seem to be so fond of you. There's nothin' that
keeps the heart so young and fresh as goin' with young people,
just as nothin' ages a man so much as havin' a lot of widders and
designin' old maids about. Of course," she added, with a return
of her natural suspicion, "you are old enough to be father to the
whole bunch, which keeps people from talkin'."

Whether it was Prudence's approbation or my own inclination I
cannot say, but it soon came ab