--"by accident," said KITTY'S husband.

Owing to the heat and the unaccustomed noise of the river, neither
LUCY nor I slept much; and, though we were told next morning we could
not have any baths, the whole scene was so bright and sparkling that
nobody (except KITTY'S husband, who seemed of a morose disposition)
could with reason have complained of anything. It continued to sparkle
till the first train came down from town, when our guests and the rain
arrived together. It was a dreadful nuisance, as the awning, which,
with the flowers, had cost us hours to arrange, speedily got soaked,
and had to be taken down. Then, of course, the sun came out again,
and for a time the heat was intense. In fact, one lady, who would eat
her lunch on the roof, grew quite faint, and had to be helped down to
KITTY'S husband's room. After lunch, we all ventured out in various
small craft, and again I was unlucky in my waterman. I was sure he had
never punted before, and it proved to be so; for when I asked him if
he had had much practice this season, he answered, the while he wrung
the water from his garments, that "he'd only seen it done, and it
looked easy." We managed, however, by dint of banging on to other
people's boats, to get along very well, until an ill-judged "shove"
sent us right out into the course, just as _the_ race of the day was
coming along. I am not quite clear as to what then took place; only I
know that everything was "fouled." KITTY'S husband, who had a bet on,
was furious, and glared at me for the rest of the day--a condition of
things I pretended not to see. That night we had a rat-hunt on board,
but we lost the animal, as LUCY diverted our attention by falling into
the river. It was most inconvenient of her, as she wetted our mutual
sleeping apartment dreadfully.

The second day was almost a _replica_ of the first, varied only by
KITTY'S husband fancying he had a sunstroke. The third and last day
was, however, not the success we could have wished. During the night
the weather turned hot, and the food turned--well, not good,--and next
morning the obligatory sacrifice to Father Thames was appalling. Then
when the necessary viands did not arrive from London, I in my capacity
of "professional guest," and of being always ready for any emergency,
volunteered to forage in Henley town. Oh! that expedition. I fought
at the fishmonger's, battled at the butcher's and baker's, grovelled
at the grocer's, and finally ended by co