tles
himself _General Agent_: this is the last straw he clutches at; if it
should break, he sinks, and is heard of no more, unless his wife come
to the rescue, by setting up a lodging-house or a boarding-school for
young ladies. There, once more in smooth water, he wields the
blacking-brush, makes acquaintance with the knife-board, or gets in the
provisions. In allowing himself to be kept by his wife, he feels he
loses some dignity; but if she should adopt any airs of superiority
over him, he can always bring her to a sense of duty by beating her."

* * * * *

_12th July, 1872._

Mr. Tribble helps take up my trunks. On my way to bed my landlady
informs me that her room adjoins mine, and if I need any thing in the
night I have only to ask for it.

This landlady will be a mother to me, I can see.

The bed reminds me of a night I passed in a cemetery, during the
Commune, sleeping on a gravestone. I turn and toss, unable to get any
rest.

Presently I had the misfortune to hit my elbow against the mattress.

A knock at the door.

"Who is there?" I cry.

"Can I get you any thing, sir? I hope you are not ill," says a voice
which I recognize as that of my landlady.

"No, why?"

"I thought you knocked, sir."

"No. Oh! I knocked my elbow against the mattress."

"Ah! that's it. I beg your pardon."

I shall be well attended here, at all events.

* * * * *

_13th July, 1872._

The table here is not _recherche_; but twelve months' campaigning have
made me tolerably easy to please.

What would not the poor Parisians have given, during the Siege in 1870,
for some of Mrs. Tribble's obdurate poultry and steaks!

* * * * *

_19th July, 1872._

I ask Mrs. Tribble for my bill.

I received it immediately; it is a short and comprehensive one:

L _s._ _d._
Board and Lodging 5 5 0
Sundries 1 13 6
----------------
Total L6 18 6

I can understand "lodging"; but "board" is a new word to me. I like to
know what it is I have to pay for, and I open my dictionary.

"Board (subst.), _planche_."

_Planche!_ Why does the woman charge me for a _planche_? Oh! I have
it--that's the bed, of course.

My dictionary does not enlighten me on the subject of "Sundries."

I make