aken."

"You're quite mistook, Mrs. Banks," said the Captain, slowly. "I've
heard everything she said, and, where the insult comes in, I'm sure I
don't know. I don't think I'm wanting in common sense, ma'am."

He patted the housekeeper's hand kindly, and, in full view of the
indignant Mrs. Banks, she squeezed his in return and gazed at him
affectionately. There is nothing humourous to the ordinary person in a
teacup, but Mrs. Banks, looking straight into hers, broke into a short,
derisive laugh.

"Anything the matter, ma'am?" enquired Cap-tain Barber, regarding her
somewhat severely.

Mrs. Banks shook her head. "Only thoughts," she said, mysteriously.

It is difficult for a man to object to his visitors finding amusement in
their thoughts, or even to enquire too closely into the nature of them.
Mrs. Banks, apparently realising this, laughed again with increased
acridity, and finally became so very amused that she shook in her chair.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, ma'am," said Captain Barber,
loftily.

With a view, perhaps, of giving his guest further amusement he patted
the housekeeper's hand again, whereupon Mrs. Banks' laughter ceased, and
she sat regarding Mrs. Church with a petrified stare, met by that lady
with a glance of haughty disdain.

"S'pose we go into the garden a bit?" suggested Barber, uneasily. The
two ladies had eyed each other for three minutes without blinking, and
his own eyes were watering in sympathy.

Mrs. Banks, secretly glad of the interruption, made one or two vague
remarks about going home, but after much persuasion, allowed him to lead
her into the garden, the solemn Elizabeth bringing up in the rear with a
hassock and a couple of cushions.

"It's a new thing for you having a housekeeper," observed Mrs. Banks,
after her daughter had returned to the house to assist in washing up.

"Yes, I wonder I never thought of it before," said the artful Barber;
"you wouldn't believe how comfortable it is."

"I daresay," said Mrs. Banks, grimly.

"It's nice to have a woman about the house," continued Captain Barber,
slowly, "it makes it more homelike. A slip of a servant-gal ain't no
good at all."

"How does Fred like it?" enquired Mrs. Banks.

"My ideas are Fred's ideas," said Uncle Barber, somewhat sharply. "What
I like he has to like, naturally."

"I was thinking of my darter," said Mrs. Banks, smoothing down her
apron majestically. "The arrangement was, I think, that when they