ize, dear," she added, "how servants are affected by
chance remarks they overhear. The other day you mentioned the
thermometer, and the next morning I found Belinda looking at it. If you
must say anything about the temperature, complain of the heat. Otherwise
we'll have to start the furnace at once."

Mr. Blackwell's face was full of the admiration common to the
simple-minded race of husbands.

"Jumbo," he said, "you're right. I was crazy. Watch me from now on.
Mental suggestion is the dope. The power of the chance remark!"

The next evening at dinner, while Belinda was passing the soup, Mr.
Blackwell fired his first gun. "It seems almost too warm for hot soup,"
he said. "All the men at the office were talking about the unseasonable
hot weather. I think we'd better have a window open." To Mrs.
Blackwell's dismay, he raised one of the dining-room windows, admitting
a pungent frostiness of October evening. But she was game, and presently
called for a palm-leaf fan. When Belinda was in the room they talked
pointedly of the heat, and Mr. Blackwell quoted imaginary Weather Bureau
notes from the evening paper.

After dinner, as he was about to light the log fire, from force of
habit, Mrs. Blackwell snatched the burning match from him just as he was
setting it to the kindling. They grinned at each other wistfully, for
the ruddy evening blaze was their chief delight. Mr. Blackwell manfully
took off his coat and waistcoat and sat in his shirtsleeves until
Belinda had gone to bed. Then he grew reckless and lit a roaring fire,
by which they huddled in glee. He rebuilt the fire before retiring, so
that Belinda might suspect nothing in the morning.

The next evening Mr. Blackwell appeared at dinner in a Palm Beach suit.
Mrs. Blackwell countered by ordering iced tea. They both sneezed
vigorously during the meal. "It was so warm in town to-day, I think I
caught a cold," said Mr. Blackwell.

Later Mrs. Blackwell found Belinda examining the thermometer with a
puzzled air. That night they took it down and hid it in the attic. But
the great stroke of the day was revealed when Mrs. Blackwell explained
that Mr. and Mrs. Chester, next door, had promised to carry on a similar
psychological campaign. Belinda and Mrs. Chester's cook,
Tulip--jocularly known as the Black Tulip--were friends, and would
undoubtedly compare notes. Mrs. Chester had agreed not to start her
furnace without consultation with Mrs. Blackwell.

October yielded to N