catch his eye when he has
been slyly glancing at Mrs. Chirrup in company, there is a certain
complacent twinkle in it, accompanied, perhaps, by a half-expressed toss
of the head, which as clearly indicates what has been passing in his mind
as if he had put it into words, and shouted it out through a
speaking-trumpet. Moreover, Mr. Chirrup has a particularly mild and
bird-like manner of calling Mrs. Chirrup 'my dear;' and--for he is of a
jocose turn--of cutting little witticisms upon her, and making her the
subject of various harmless pleasantries, which nobody enjoys more
thoroughly than Mrs. Chirrup herself. Mr. Chirrup, too, now and then
affects to deplore his bachelor-days, and to bemoan (with a marvellously
contented and smirking face) the loss of his freedom, and the sorrow of
his heart at having been taken captive by Mrs. Chirrup--all of which
circumstances combine to show the secret triumph and satisfaction of Mr.
Chirrup's soul.

We have already had occasion to observe that Mrs. Chirrup is an
incomparable housewife. In all the arts of domestic arrangement and
management, in all the mysteries of confectionery-making, pickling, and
preserving, never was such a thorough adept as that nice little body.
She is, besides, a cunning worker in muslin and fine linen, and a special
hand at marketing to the very best advantage. But if there be one branch
of housekeeping in which she excels to an utterly unparalleled and
unprecedented extent, it is in the important one of carving. A roast
goose is universally allowed to be the great stumbling-block in the way
of young aspirants to perfection in this department of science; many
promising carvers, beginning with legs of mutton, and preserving a good
reputation through fillets of veal, sirloins of beef, quarters of lamb,
fowls, and even ducks, have sunk before a roast goose, and lost caste and
character for ever. To Mrs. Chirrup the resolving a goose into its
smallest component parts is a pleasant pastime--a practical joke--a thing
to be done in a minute or so, without the smallest interruption to the
conversation of the time. No handing the dish over to an unfortunate man
upon her right or left, no wild sharpening of the knife, no hacking and
sawing at an unruly joint, no noise, no splash, no heat, no leaving off
in despair; all is confidence and cheerfulness. The dish is set upon the
table, the cover is removed; for an instant, and only an instant, you
observe that M