get how miserably flat it was? Five matrons sit on sofas,
and talk in a subdued voice:--First Lady (mysteriously).--"My dear Lady
Dawdley, do tell me about poor Susan Tuckett."

Second Lady.--"All three children are perfectly well, and I assure you
as fine babies as I ever saw in my life. I made her give them Daffy's
Elixir the first day; and it was the greatest mercy that I had some of
Frederick's baby-clothes by me; for you know I had provided Susan with
sets for one only, and really--"

Third Lady.--"Of course one couldn't; and for my part I think your
ladyship is a great deal too kind to these people. A little gardener's
boy dressed in Lord Dawdley's frocks indeed! I recollect that one at his
christening had the sweetest lace in the world!"

Fourth Lady.--"What do you think of this, ma'am--Lady Emily, I mean? I
have just had it from Howell and James:--guipure, they call it. Isn't
it an odd name for lace! And they charge me, upon my conscience, four
guineas a yard!"

Third Lady.--"My mother, when she came to Flintskinner, had lace upon
her robe that cost sixty guineas a yard, ma'am! 'Twas sent from Malines
direct by our relation, the Count d'Araignay."

Fourth Lady (aside).--"I thought she would not let the evening pass
without talking of her Malines lace and her Count d'Araignay. Odious
people! they don't spare their backs, but they pinch their--"

Here Tom upsets a coffee-cup over his white jean trousers, and another
young gentleman bursts into a laugh, saying, "By Jove, that's a good
'un!"

"George, my dear," says mamma, "had not you and your young friend better
go into the garden? But mind, no fruit, or Dr. Glauber must be called in
again immediately!" And we all go, and in ten minutes I and my brother
are fighting in the stables.

If, instead of listening to the matrons and their discourse, we had
taken the opportunity of attending to the conversation of the Misses, we
should have heard matter not a whit more interesting.

First Miss.--"They were all three in blue crape; you never saw anything
so odious. And I know for a certainty that they wore those dresses at
Muddlebury, at the archery-ball, and I dare say they had them in town."

Second Miss.--"Don't you think Jemima decidedly crooked? And those
fair complexions, they freckle so, that really Miss Blanche ought to be
called Miss Brown."

Third Miss.--"He, he, he!"

Fourth Miss.--"Don't you think Blanche is a pretty name?"

First Miss.--"La! do