but wished and privately
expected HIS wife "to take the shine out of all the rest."

Mary had besought Richard to keep that evening free--it was her lot
always to go out to entertainments under some one else's wing--and he
had promised to do his utmost. But, a burnt child in this respect, Mary
said she would believe it when she saw it; and the trend of events
justified her scepticism. The night arrived; she was on the point of
adjusting her wreath of forget-me-nots before her candle-lit mirror,
when the dreaded summons came. Mahony had to change and hurry off,
without a moment's delay.

"Send for Purdy. He'll see you across," he said as he banged the front
door.

But Mary despatched the gardener at a run with a note to Tilly Ocock,
who, she knew, would make room for her in her double-seated buggy.

Grindle got out, and Mary, her bunchy skirts held to her, took his
place at the back beside Mrs. Amelia. Tilly sat next the driver, and
talked to them over her shoulder--a great big jolly rattle of a woman,
who ruled her surroundings autocratically.

"Lor, no--we left 'im counting eggs," she answered an inquiry on Mary's
part. "Pa's got a brood of Cochin Chinas that's the pride and glory of
'is heart. And 'e's built 'imself the neatest little place for 'em you
could meet on a summer's day: you MUST come over and admire it, my
dear--that'll please 'im, no end. It was a condition I made for 'is
going on keeping fowls. They were a perfect nuisance, all over the
garden and round the kitchen and the back, till it wasn't safe to put
your foot down anywhere--fowls ARE such messy things! At last I up and
said I wouldn't have it any longer. So then 'e and Tom set to work and
built themselves a fowl-house and a run. And there they spend their
days thinking out improvements."

Here Tilly gave the driver a cautionary dig with her elbow; as she did
this, an under-pocket chinked ominously. "Look out now, Davy, what
you're doing with us!--Yes, that's splosh, Mary. I always bring a bag
of change with me, my dear, so that those who lose shan't have an
excuse for not paying up." Tilly was going to pass her evening, as
usual, at the card-table. "Well, I hope you two'll enjoy yourselves.
Remember now, Mrs. Grindle, if you please, that you're a married woman
and must behave yourself, and not go in for any high jinks," she teased
her prim little stepdaughter, as they dismounted from the conveyance
and stood straightening their petticoats at