rs. It was long a matter of great
surprise to not a few of their friends that though Lawrence and Lewis
neither smoked nor drank, they were uncommonly healthy and apparently
happy! Some caustic spirits asserted that they were sure budding wings
were to be found on the shoulders of the two doctors, but we are
warranted in asserting, on the best authority, that on a strict
examination, nothing of the kind was discovered. Need we say that Emma
and Nita were pattern wives? Of course not, therefore we won't say it.
Our reticence on this point will no doubt be acceptable to those who,
being themselves naughty, don't believe in or admire "patterns," even
though these be of "heavenly things." It is astonishing, though, what
an effect their so-called "perfection" had in tightening the bonds of
matrimony. Furthermore, they had immense families of sons and
daughters, insomuch that it became necessary to lengthen their cords and
strengthen their stakes, and "Calyforny Villa" became a mere band-box
compared to the mansions which they ultimately called "home."

Mrs Stoutley having managed to get entirely out of _herself_--chiefly
by means of the Bible and the London gold-fields and moraines--became so
amiable and so unlike her former self, and, withal, so healthy and
cheery, that the two great families of Stoutley and Lawrence went to war
for possession of her.

The feud at last threatened to become chronic, and was usually carried
to an excess of virulence about Christmas and New Year time. In order,
therefore, to the establishment of peace, Mrs Stoutley agreed to live
one-half of the year with Lewis, and the other half with Lawrence--Lewis
to have the larger half as a matter of course; but she retained her
cottage in Notting Hill and her maid Netta White, with the right to
retire at any moment, when the exigencies of the gold-fields or the
moraines demanded special attention; or when the excess of juvenile life
in the mansions before mentioned became too much for her. On these
occasions of retirement which, to say truth, were not very frequent, she
was accompanied by Netta White--for Netta loved her mistress and clave
to her as Ruth to Naomi. Being a native of the "fields," she was an
able and sympathetic guide and adviser at all times, and nothing pleased
Netta better than a visit to Grubb's Court, for there she saw the
blessed fruit of diamond and gold digging illustrated in the person of
her own reformed father and hap