aid the child, crying; "but Norah used to open
her hands."

Rainscourt's eyes were naturally directed to the fingers of his wife, in
which he perceived a collection of notes and letters. He thought it
might be advisable to open her hand, if it were only to recover these
out of her possession. What affection would not have induced him to do,
interest accomplished. He advanced to the sofa, and attempted to open
her clenched hands; but whether Mrs Rainscourt's hysterics were only
feigned, or of such violence as to defy the strength of her husband, all
his efforts to extract the letters proved ineffectual, and, after
several unavailing attempts, he desisted from his exertions.

"What else is good for her, Emily?"

"Water, papa, thrown in her face--shall I ring for some?"

"No, my dear--is there nothing else we can do?"

"Oh, yes, papa, unlace her stays."

Rainscourt, who was not very expert as a lady's maid, had some
difficulty in arriving at the stays through the folds of the gown, _et
cetera_, the more so as Mrs Rainscourt was very violent in her
movements, and he was not a little irritated by sundry pricks which he
received from those indispensable articles of dress, which the fair sex
are necessitated to use, pointing out to us that there are no roses
without thorns. When he did arrive at the desired encasement, he was
just as much puzzled to find an end to what appeared, like the Gordian
knot, to have neither beginning nor end. Giving way to the natural
impatience of his temper, he seized a penknife from the table, to divide
it _a l'Alexandre_. Unfortunately, in his hurry, instead of inserting
the knife on the inside of the lace, so as to cut _to_ him, he cut down
upon it, and not meeting with the resistance which he expected, the
point of the knife entered with no trifling force into the back of Mrs
Rainscourt, who, to his astonishment, immediately started on her legs,
crying, "Would you murder me, Mr Rainscourt?--help, help!"

"It was quite accidental, my dear," said Rainscourt, in a soothing tone,
for he was afraid of her bringing the whole house about her ears. "I
really am quite shocked at my own awkwardness."

"It quite recovered you though, mamma," observed Emily, with great
simplicity, and for which remark, to her astonishment, she was saluted
with a smart box on the ear.

"Why should you be shocked, Mr Rainscourt?" said the lady, who, as her
daughter had remarked, seemed wonderfully recovered