t the slightest touch
caused the most exquisite pain. A tumor was found at the root of the
tooth as large as a pigeon's egg!"

This completed the entire overthrow of my nerves. I begged my
friend, in mercy to spare me any further relations of this kind. She
seemed half offended, and I had to explain the state of mind which
had been produced by what a former visitor had said. She, evidently,
thought me a very weak woman. No doubt I am.

"In the dumps again, Kate?" said my husband, when he returned home
in the evening. "What is the matter now?"

"Enough to put you or any one else in the dumps," I replied
fretfully. "This tooth-ache grows worse, instead of better."

"Does it, indeed? I am really very sorry. Can't any thing be done to
relieve you?"

"Nothing, I am persuaded. The tooth is sound, and there must be an
abscess forming at the root, to occasion so much pain."

"Who, in the name of common sense, has put this in your head?"

My husband was worried.

"Has Mrs. A--been here again?"

"No," was my simple response.

"Then what has conjured up this bugbear to frighten you out of your
seven senses?"

I didn't like this language at all. My husband seemed captious and
unreasonable. Dear soul! I supposed he had cause; for they say a
nervous woman is enough to worry a man's life out of him; and, dear
knows, I am nervous enough! But I had only my fears before me then:
I saw that my husband did not sympathize with me in the least. I
merely replied--

"It may be very well for you to speak to your wife in this way,
after she has suffered for nearly three days with a wretched
tooth-ache. If the tooth were at all decayed, or there were any
apparent cause for the pain, I could bear it well enough, and
wouldn't trouble you about it. But it is so clear to my mind now,
that nothing but a tumour forming at the root could produce such a
steady, deep-seated, throbbing pain, that I am with reason alarmed;
and, instead of sympathy from my husband I am met with something
very much like ridicule."

"My dear Kate," said my husband, tenderly, and in a serious voice,
"pardon my apparent harshness and indifference. If you are really so
serious about the matter, it may be as well to consult a dentist,
and get his advice. He may be able to relieve very greatly your
fears, if not the pain in your jaw."

"He will order the tooth to be extracted, I have not the least
doubt."

"If there should be a tumour at the root, it will be m