How can I stop it?

"'You must not be so civil to them,' Jessica says.

"I assure her that without positive rudeness I can't be less civil than
I am.

"'Then, be rude to them,' counsels Jessica.

"How can one man, standing alone, immersed in rummage sales, parish
concerts, mothers' meetings, school teas, and other feminine functions,
be rude to Fifteen women at once? Between you and me, I have tried it,
in my desperation, in individual cases, and it has no effect. I have
discovered you can't please a woman better than to bully her.

"'You must marry Jessica,' Mrs Carter says. 'Married to Jessica you
will find yourself a mere man, a very ordinary person.'

"'I should want an extraordinary nerve to do it,' I was on the point of
saying, but remembered in time how she had reported me to the Fifteen.
The pulpit is becoming the only place where I can enjoy the luxury of
free speech. Words spoken in any less public place are brought back to
me distorted past recognition.

"Heigho! I am always grumbling. As a fact, people put themselves out in
the most flattering manner to be kind to me; I suppose I am as
comfortable here as I should be in any place after H----.

"Little Cissy Bust found out that I was fond of flowers. Since then she
pulls off a chrysanthemum every morning from the plant in her mother's
window, and lays it beside my plate. Sweet of the little thing, but I
watch with dismay the blooms lessening on the maternal plant. The
mother is a good sort, in her way, but as I've been working in it all
day I don't care to be bothered with the tittle-tattle of the parish
when I come home at night. She is always bringing me delicacies off her
own table. I have to eat them, because she stops to see me do it....

* * * * *

"19_th December_.

"How many afternoon tea-cloths have I had given me since I came,
Charles? Guess.

"Nine. I haven't the smallest use for one of them. I never get the
chance of having tea at home in the afternoon, being always under the
obligation to eat muffins in this lady's house or that. Jessica came in
through wind and rain one day and said she'd like to have a cup. Here
seemed my opportunity. I showed her the nine and facetiously asked her
to choose; or should I spread them all at once? She always has too much
in hand to stop to jest over trifles; she waved the tea-cloths aside,
and seized her cup