uty and strength"--

"And gingerbread and cheese," added mamma, in reply to something said by
the girl in a sort of stage-whisper.

Whereupon papa, stopping short, and looking at mamma for a few moments,
puzzled and well nigh speechless, gasped out--

"And _gingerbread and cheese!_ Why, what the plague do you mean, Sarah?"

"Nothing else for tea, my love, so Bridget says. Not a pound o' flour in
the house; not so much as a loaf, nor a roll, nor a muffin to be had for
love or money--so Bridget says."

"Nothin' to be had without _money_, ma'am; that's what I said."

"Bridget!"

"_Sir!_"

That "_sir!_"--it was an admission of two quarters in arrear at least.

"Take that child to bed this moment! Begone! I'll bear this no longer."

The girl stared, muttered, grabbed the baby, and flung away with such an
air--three quarters due, if there was a single day!--banged the door to
after her, and bundled off up the front stairs at a hand-gallop, her tread
growing heavier, and her voice louder and louder with every plunge.

"_Sarah!_"

"_Peter!_"

"I wonder you can put up with such insolence. That girl is getting
insufferable."

The poor wife looked up in amazement, but opened not her mouth; and the
husband continued walking the floor with a tread that shook the whole
house, and stopping occasionally, as if to watch the effect, or to see how
much further he might go without injury to his own health.

"How often have I told you, my dear, that if a woman would be respected by
her own servants, she must respect herself, and never allow a word nor a
look of impertinence--_never! never!_--not even a look! Why, Sarah, life
itself would be a burthen to me. Upon my word," growing more and more in
earnest every moment--"Upon my word, I believe I should hang myself! And
how _you_ can bear it--you, with a nature so gentle and so affectionate,
and so--I declare to you"--

"Pray don't speak so loud, my love. The people that are going by the window
stop and look up towards the house. And what will the Peabodys think?"

"What do I care! Let them think what they please. Am I to regulate the
affairs of my household by what a neighbor may happen to think, hey? The
fact is, my dear Sarah--you must excuse me, I don't want to hurt your
feelings--but, the fact is, you ought to have had the child put to bed
three hours ago."

"_Three_ hours ago!"

"Yes, _three_ hours ago; and that would have prevented all this trouble."

Not a wor