ung husband from the doorway.

It was cold in the kitchen, very cold, when a fellow went out clad
only in pyjamas, but Osborn briskly lighted that very superior
gas-stove and put the super-kettle on. It was extraordinary how
completely they were equipped; there was even an extra little set for
morning tea for two. He made toast under the grill, with whose
abilities he now felt really familiar, and furnished the tray. He was
glad he could have everything so pretty and cosy for Marie. He would
never be like some men he knew, utterly careless--to all appearance at
least--as to how their wives fared.

He had his cold tub quickly, while the kettle boiled, and lighted the
geyser in the bathroom for Marie. What an awfully decent bathroom it
was!

It was jolly sitting on the edge of Marie's bed, drinking tea, and
admiring her. Fellows who weren't married never really knew how pretty
a girl could look. Or at least they ought not. Her nightdress beat any
mere suit or frock simply hollow.

"Your bath'll be ready when you are, pretty cat," said Osborn, "and
I've left the kettle on and made enough toast for breakfast."

And Julia inferred that husbands were mere brutes!

Before Marie stepped out of bed, Osborn lighted the gas-fire in the
bedroom; she mustn't get cold. She went into the bathroom, and he
began to shave, in cold water. As he shaved, he remembered--Great
Scott!

The dining-room fire. The dining-room grate in ashes.

Wiping the lather hastily from his face, Osborn hastened out once
more. It was all right for her to put a match to a gas-fire, but ashes
and coals ... he hadn't thought of it.

He did the dining-room grate almost as successfully as a housemaid,
cleared the debris, wondering where one put it, coaxed the fire to
blaze and hurried back to dress.

Marie dressed, too.

"I'm not going to be a breakfast-wrapper woman," she said, as she slid
into her garments. "They're sluts, aren't they? I'm going to look as
nice in the mornings as at any other part of the day."

"Bravo, kiddie!" he cried admiringly.

There was still time in hand when both were dressed for the cooking of
breakfast, but there seemed quite a lot of things to do yet; and they
made rather a rush of them. One couldn't sit down to a meal in a dusty
room, so one had to sweep and dust it. And there was, undoubtedly,
some trick about eggs and bacon which one had yet to learn.

How easily and quickly one would learn everything, though. Meth