le stuff dis mawnin. Mars'r look
mighty sick, an' I reck'n dat ole man, Mars'r Plowden, he mose done
gone."

"Sam," said Mrs. Rutherford, with her usual impulsiveness, "after you
have taken that basket to them, come back to me. In the meantime, I will
consult with my friends as to what steps to take. But say nothing to the
gentlemen about this until I bid you."

"No, missus," replied Sam, shuffling off with his load, and wearing a
knowing smile on his honest black face. While the husbands were
discussing the viands he carried to them, their wives were discussing
the new situation of affairs.

"Ladies," said Mrs. Rutherford, after informing them of the whereabouts
of their spouses, "you are all at liberty to invite your husbands back
here to dinner; whether you do so or not is for each of you to decide
for herself. As for me, Mr. Rutherford said he would never return, and I
am not going to ask him to."

"We all, in the heat of passion, say things," replied Mrs. Honey, "which
at the time we think we mean, but for which we are afterwards sorry. Did
not William say he left me forever?"

"No," answered Mrs. Wildfen, "he said 'wunst an' hallways.'"

"That's unkind of you, Lydia," remarked the gentle Gertrude. "What does
it matter whether a man spells his heart with an 'h' or an 'a,' so long
as it is in the right place?--as I am sure Mr. Honey's is."

"Thank you, my dear," responded Mrs. Honey, with moistening eyes. "Your
good husband can never have committed the crime imputed to him."

"Nor mine either, I suppose you think?" queried Mrs. Rutherford; to
which the schoolmistress replied that that certainly was what she did
think.

"Oh, yes," sneered Miss Fithian; "you're all in the melting mood. You'll
get down on your knees and beg 'em to come back and trample on you."

Mrs. Honey smiled as she remarked: "They must, by this time, be too
famished to trample much. I know that must be my husband's condition.
With his enormous appetite I think he must be now about starved into
submission, if not penitence."

"Remember, it is Christmas, and we should forgive and forget," said Mrs.
Plowden. "Suppose we unite in an invitation to them to come to dinner
to-day."

"Good!" eagerly responded Mrs. Honey, "and send it by Sam, with a flag
of truce."

"Yes, and put in that we will undertake to keep the peace during
dinner," added Mrs. Plowden.

"Say rather," suggested Mrs. Rutherford, "that we will preserve an armed
neutral