shed in the
monthly fashion; and spelt Character with a K.

'I saw a devilish number of parcels in the passage when I came home,'
simpered Mr. Simpson.

'Materials for the toilet, no doubt,' rejoined the Don Juan reader.

--'Much linen, lace, and several pair
Of stockings, slippers, brushes, combs, complete;
With other articles of ladies fair,
To keep them beautiful, or leave them neat.'

'Is that from Milton?' inquired Mr. Simpson.

'No--from Byron,' returned Mr. Hicks, with a look of contempt. He was
quite sure of his author, because he had never read any other. 'Hush!
Here come the gals,' and they both commenced talking in a very loud key.

'Mrs. Maplesone and the Miss Maplesones, Mr. Hicks. Mr. Hicks--Mrs.
Maplesone and the Miss Maplesones,' said Mrs. Tibbs, with a very red
face, for she had been superintending the cooking operations below
stairs, and looked like a wax doll on a sunny day. 'Mr. Simpson, I beg
your pardon--Mr. Simpson--Mrs. Maplesone and the Miss Maplesones'--and
_vice versa_. The gentlemen immediately began to slide about with much
politeness, and to look as if they wished their arms had been legs, so
little did they know what to do with them. The ladies smiled, curtseyed,
and glided into chairs, and dived for dropped pocket-handkerchiefs: the
gentlemen leant against two of the curtain-pegs; Mrs. Tibbs went through
an admirable bit of serious pantomime with a servant who had come up to
ask some question about the fish-sauce; and then the two young ladies
looked at each other; and everybody else appeared to discover something
very attractive in the pattern of the fender.

'Julia, my love,' said Mrs. Maplesone to her youngest daughter, in a tone
loud enough for the remainder of the company to hear--'Julia.'

'Yes, Ma.'

'Don't stoop.'--This was said for the purpose of directing general
attention to Miss Julia's figure, which was undeniable. Everybody looked
at her, accordingly, and there was another pause.

'We had the most uncivil hackney-coachman to-day, you can imagine,' said
Mrs. Maplesone to Mrs. Tibbs, in a confidential tone.

'Dear me!' replied the hostess, with an air of great commiseration. She
couldn't say more, for the servant again appeared at the door, and
commenced telegraphing most earnestly to her 'Missis.'

'I think hackney-coachmen generally _are_ uncivil,' said Mr. Hicks in his
most insinuating tone.

'Positively I think they are,' replied Mrs. Ma