ed by cheese
and dessert, but on this occasion there was no "following." Imagine
two domesticated women, and one of them--the little one--with the
appetite and capacity of a pet canary, seated opposite a bird like that
the squire had sent us, which had meat enough upon it to serve a
Polytechnic party; and imagine the same couple, having done their duty
womanfully upon the bird, confronted with a plum pudding of the
dimensions Mother Hubbard's sense of proportion had judged necessary,
and one of the twain compelled either to eat to repletion or to wound
the feelings of the pudding's author--and then say whether in your
opinion cheese and dessert were not works of supererogation!

After we had cleared the things away and drawn our rocking chairs up to
the fire, the old clock ticked us off to sleep in five minutes; and
then that part of me which it is not polite to mention took its revenge
for having been made to work overtime on a holiday. I dreamed!

I was running away from Chelsea in the dead of night, clothed in my
night-dress and holding my bedroom slippers in my hand. A great fear
was upon me that I should be discovered and frustrated in my purpose;
and as I strove to turn the heavy key in the lock my heart thumped
against my chest and the perspiration poured down my face. At first
the bolt resisted my efforts, but at length it shot back with a great
noise, which awakened Madam Rusty, who opened her bedroom window as I
rushed out on to the pavement and cried "Murder!" at the same time
emptying the contents of the water jug upon me.

Fear gave wings to my feet and I fled, followed by a howling crowd
which grew bigger every moment and gained on me rapidly. By this time
I realised that I was carrying madam's best silver tea-pot under my
arm, and I wanted to drop it but dared not.

Then I found myself in the lane at Windyridge, with the squire dressed
as a policeman keeping back the crowd, whilst Mother Hubbard, without
her bodice, as I had seen her in the morning, took my hand--and the
tea-pot--and hurried me towards the cottage. It was just in sight when
Madam Rusty jumped out of a doorway in her night-cap and dressing-gown
and shouted 'Bo!' waving her arms about wildly, and as I hesitated
which way to turn she flung herself upon me and seized my hair in both
her hands. As I screamed wildly, I saw the Cynic leap the wall in his
golf suit, and woke just in time to save myself considerable
embarrassment.

"W