s evening my wife went out into the
garden to call the children. Not finding them, she went all round the
place in her search till she came to the empty stable; thinking they
might have run in there to play, she pushed open the door; there,
standing in the darkest corner, she saw Mrs M----. My wife was surprised
to see her, certainly; for she did not expect her return so soon; but,
oddly enough, it did not strike her as being singular to see her
_there_. Vexed as she had felt with her all day for going, and rather
glad, in her woman's way, to have something entirely different from the
genuine _casus belli_ to hang a retort upon, my wife said: "Well,
Harriet, I should have thought another dress would have done quite as
well for your picnic as that best black silk you have on." My wife was
the elder of the twain, and had always assumed a little of the air of
counsellor to her sister. Black silks were thought a great deal more of
at that time than they are just now, and silk of any kind was held
particularly inconsistent wear for Wesleyan Methodists, to which
denomination we belonged.

Receiving no answer, my wife said: "Oh, well, Harriet, if you can't take
a word of reproof without being sulky, I'll leave you to yourself"; and
then she came into the house to tell me the party had returned and that
she had seen her sister in the stable, not in the best of tempers. At
the moment it did not seem extraordinary to me that my wife should have
met her sister in the stable.

I waited indoors some time, expecting them to return my horse. Mrs M----
was my neighbour, and, being always on most friendly terms, I wondered
that none of the party had come in to tell us about the day's pleasure.
I thought I would just run in and see how they had got on. To my great
surprise the servant told me they had not returned. I began, then, to
feel anxiety about the result. My wife, however, having seen Harriet in
the stable, refused to believe the servant's assertion; and said there
was no doubt of their return, but that they had probably left word to
say they were not come back, in order to offer a plausible excuse for
taking a further drive, and detaining my horse for another hour or so.

At eleven o'clock Mr Pinnock, my brother-in-law, who had been one of the
party, came in, apparently much agitated. As soon as she saw him, and
before he had time to speak, my wife seemed to know what he had to say.

"What is the matter?" she said; "something