paret imperat, and that means, Make your temper your
servant, or else it will be your master. But to ill-use my dear little
wife--it is unnatural, it is monstrous, it makes my blood boil."

"Oh, dear! don't go into another. It is all over. I can't bear to see
you in a passion; you are so terrible, so beautiful. Ah! they are fine
things, courage and strength. There's nothing I admire so much."

"Why, they are as common as dirt. What I admire is modesty, timidity,
sweetness; the sensitive cheek that pales or blushes at a word, the
bosom that quivers, and clings to a fellow whenever anything goes
wrong."

"Oh, that is what you admire, is it?" said Rosa dryly.

"Admire it?" said Christopher, not seeing the trap; "I adore it."

"Then, Christie, dear, you are a Simpleton, that is all. And we are made
for one another."

The house was to be furnished and occupied as soon as possible; so Mrs.
Staines and Mrs. Cole went to another sale-room. Mrs. Staines remembered
all Uncle Philip had said, and went plainly dressed; but her friend
declined to sacrifice her showy dress to her friend's interests. Rosa
thought that a little unkind, but said nothing.

In this auction-room they easily got a place at the table, but did not
find it heaven; for a number of secondhand carpets were in the sale,
and these, brimful of dust, were all shown on the table, and the dirt
choked, and poisoned our fair friends. Brokers pestered them, until at
last Rosa, smarting under her late exposure, addressed the auctioneer
quietly, in her silvery tones: "Sir, these gentlemen are annoying me by
forcing their services on me. I do not intend to buy at all unless I can
be allowed to bid for myself."

When Rosa, blushing and amazed at her own boldness, uttered these words,
she little foresaw their effect. She had touched a popular sore.

"You are quite right, madam," said a respectable tradesman opposite her.
"What business have these dirty fellows, without a shilling in their
pockets, to go and force themselves on a lady against her will?"

"It has been complained of in the papers again and again," said another.

"What! mayn't we live as well as you?" retorted a broker.

"Yes, but not to force yourself on a lady. Why, she'd give you in charge
of the police if you tried it on outside."

Then there was a downright clamor of discussion and chaff.

Presently up rises very slowly a countryman so colossal, that it seemed
as if he would never have done ge