l, and were happy, till
Cousin Sophronia rapped on the window with her thimble, and asked
whether they were coming in, or whether she should come out and join
them.

She was trying that evening, Cousin Sophronia. Nothing on the tea-table
suited her, to begin with. She declared the beef tea unfit to touch, and
desired Mr. Montfort to taste it, which he politely but firmly refused
to do. "But it is not fit to eat!" cried the lady. "I insist on your
tasting it, my dear John."

"My dear Sophronia, I am extremely sorry it is not to your taste. If it
is not good, I certainly do not want to taste it. Send it away and ask
me to taste something that is good."

The chicken was tough. "You should change your butcher, John. Or are
these your own fowls? Chickens I will not call them; they must be two
years old at least. Nothing disagrees with me like tough poultry. Nobody
to look after the fowls properly, I suppose. I must take them in hand;
not that I have had any experience myself of fowls, but an educated
person, you understand. So important, I always say, to bring educated
intelligence to bear on these matters. And then, these knives are so
dull! Even if the fowls were tender, impossible to make an impression
with such a knife as this. Elizabeth, what do you use for your knives?"

Elizabeth used Bristol brick, as she always had done.

"Ah, entirely out of date, Bristol brick. You must send for some of the
preparation that William uses, John. Nothing like it. Something or
other, it's called; somebody's--I can't remember now, but we will have
it, never fear, dearest John. Shameful, for you to be subjected to dull
knives _and_ tough poultry. What are these? Strawberries? Dear me! I did
hope we could have raspberries this evening. One is so tired of
strawberries by this time, don't you think so?"

"I am sorry," said Mr. Montfort. "The raspberries will be ripe in a day
or two, Sophronia; Willis thought they would hardly do to pick to-day."

"Oh, but I assure you, my dearest John, Willis is entirely wrong. I
examined the bushes myself; I went quite through them, and found them
quite--entirely ripe. That was just Willis's laziness, depend upon it.
These old servants" (Elizabeth had gone to get more cream, the lady
having emptied the jug on her despised strawberries) "are too lazy to be
of much use. Depend upon it, John, you will know no peace until you get
rid of them all, and start afresh; I am thinking very seriously about
it