de Mr. Harris to go with you?"

I said I would try.

"There's a dear boy," said Ethelbertha; "try hard. You might get George
to join you."

I replied there was not much advantage in George's coming, seeing he was
a bachelor, and that therefore nobody would be much benefited by his
absence. But a woman never understands satire. Ethelbertha merely
remarked it would look unkind leaving him behind. I promised to put it
to him.

I met Harris at the Club in the afternoon, and asked him how he had got
on.

He said, "Oh, that's all right; there's no difficulty about getting
away."

But there was that about his tone that suggested incomplete satisfaction,
so I pressed him for further details.

"She was as sweet as milk about it," he continued; "said it was an
excellent idea of George's, and that she thought it would do me good."

"That seems all right," I said; "what's wrong about that?"

"There's nothing wrong about that," he answered, "but that wasn't all.
She went on to talk of other things."

"I understand," I said.

"There's that bathroom fad of hers," he continued.

"I've heard of it," I said; "she has started Ethelbertha on the same
idea."

"Well, I've had to agree to that being put in hand at once; I couldn't
argue any more when she was so nice about the other thing. That will
cost me a hundred pounds, at the very least."

"As much as that?" I asked.

"Every penny of it," said Harris; "the estimate alone is sixty."

I was sorry to hear him say this.

"Then there's the kitchen stove," continued Harris; "everything that has
gone wrong in the house for the last two years has been the fault of that
kitchen stove."

"I know," I said. "We have been in seven houses since we were married,
and every kitchen stove has been worse than the last. Our present one is
not only incompetent; it is spiteful. It knows when we are giving a
party, and goes out of its way to do its worst."

"_We_ are going to have a new one," said Harris, but he did not say it
proudly. "Clara thought it would be such a saving of expense, having the
two things done at the same time. I believe," said Harris, "if a woman
wanted a diamond tiara, she would explain that it was to save the expense
of a bonnet."

"How much do you reckon the stove is going to cost you?" I asked. I felt
interested in the subject.

"I don't know," answered Harris; "another twenty, I suppose. Then we
talked about the piano. Could you ever notice,"