be due to
Mrs Enderby's memory. Margaret rather sided with her--it was so sweet
to her to hear Philip's mother mourned.

Mrs Grey's tears were, however, interspersed with smiles. On the day
of the Rowlands' great dinner-party, when all was to be so stately for
the Hunters, when the new dessert service was procured from
Staffordshire, the fish had not arrived from London. This was certainly
a fact; the fish had come by the coach the next morning. And what was
still more remarkable, it had not occurred to Mrs Rowland that such an
accident might happen--was very likely to happen; and, as if she had
been an inexperienced housekeeper, she had not any dish in reserve, in
case of the non-arrival of the fish. It was said that Mrs Rowland had
sat down to table with a face perfectly crimson with anxiety and
vexation. To such a temper as hers, what a vexation it must have been!
There was a counterpart to this story for Mrs Rowland. She fancied
that Mrs Grey's friends, the Andersons, must have looked rather foolish
on occasion of their great syllabub party. She hoped the Miss Andersons
trained their pupils better than their cows: they had a sad obstreperous
cow, she understood. Some of the young ladies had lured it up the lawn
with a potato, and got it to stand still to be milked; but, when
somebody began to sing (she had no doubt it was Miss Ibbotson who sang)
the poor animal found the music was not to its taste, and, of course, it
kicked away the china bowl, and pranced down the lawn again. There was
a dirge sung over the syllabub, no doubt. The poor Miss Andersons must
have been terribly annoyed.

The good understanding of the gentlemen seemed all this time to be
uninterrupted. They had much to put up with at home on this account;
but their good-humour towards each other remained unbroken. Mr
Rowland's anxious face, and his retirement within the enclosure of his
own business, told his neighbours something of what he had to go through
at home. Mrs Grey was vexed with her husband that he did not visit
Hope's misfortunes upon Mr Rowland, and call the husband to account for
the mischief the wife had caused; and Hester more than once expressed
some resentment against her relation for not espousing Edward's cause
more warmly. Hope told her this was not reasonable.

"Remember," said he, as they sauntered in their garden, one evening,
"that these gentlemen must be more weary than we are (which is saying a
great deal) o