day, plain names that yet had all become
glorious, thought it sheer affection to be christened Mellersh--was, it
seemed, Mrs. Wilkins's husband, and therefore his place was clearly
indicated. Why this talk? She herself, as if foreseeing his arrival,
had had a second bed put in Mrs. Wilkins's room. There were certain
things in life which were never talked about but only done. Most
things connected with husbands were not talked about; and to have a
whole dinner-table taken up with a discussion as to where one of them
should sleep was an affront to the decencies. How and where husbands
slept should be known only to their wives. Sometimes it was not known
to them, and then the marriage had less happy moments; but these
moments were not talked about either; the decencies continued to be
preserved. At least, it was so in her day. To have to hear whether
Mr. Wilkins should or should not sleep with Mrs. Wilkins, and the
reasons why he should and the reasons why he shouldn't, was both
uninteresting and indelicate.

She might have succeeded in imposing propriety and changing the
conversation if it had not been for Lady Caroline. Lady Caroline
encouraged Mrs. Wilkins, and threw herself into the discussion with
every bit as much unreserve as Mrs. Wilkins herself. No doubt she was
impelled on this occasion by Chianti, but whatever the reason there it
was. And, characteristically, Lady Caroline was all for Mr. Wilkins
being given the solitary spare-room. She took that for granted. Any
other arrangement would be impossible, she said; her expression was,
Barbarous. Had she never read her Bible, Mrs. Fisher was tempted to
inquire--And they two shall be one flesh? Clearly also, then, one
room. But Mrs. Fisher did not inquire. She did not care even to
allude to such texts to some one unmarried.

However, there was one way she could force Mr. Wilkins into his
proper place and save the situation: she could say she herself
intended to invite a friend. It was her right. They had all said so.
Apart from propriety, it was monstrous that Mrs. Wilkins should want to
monopolise the one spare-room, when in her own room was everything
necessary for her husband. Perhaps she really would invite somebody--
not invite, but suggest coming. There was Kate Lumley, for instance.
Kate could perfectly afford to come and pay her share; and she was of
her own period and knew, and had known, most of the people she herself
knew and had kno