istines was what
I called them, Sophia; and in doing so; I did not mean all of them,
you know."

"Well, Philistines, then, if that's a better word than Hottentots,
which I doubt," Mrs. Van Buren retorted sharply.

Aunt Barbara's evident wish to smooth matters irritated her to say more
than she might otherwise have done, and she went on:

"I know you made exceptions, but if my memory serves me right, your
opinion of Ethie's mother-in-law was not very complimentary to that
lady. A man has no business to take his wife to live with his mother
when he knows how different they are."

"But I did not know," Richard said; "that is, I had never thought much
of the things which tried Ethie. Mother was always a good mother to me,
and I did not suppose she was so very different from other women."

"You certainly must be very obtuse, then," Mrs. Van Buren replied: "for,
if all accounts which I hear are true, your mother is not the person to
make a daughter-in-law happy. Neither, it seems, did you do what you
could to please her. You annoyed her terribly with your codger-like
ways, if I may be allowed that term. You made but little effort to
improve, thinking, no doubt, that it was all nonsense and foolishness;
that it was just as well to wear your hat in church, and sit with your
boots on top of the stove, as any other way."

"I never wore my hat in church!" Richard exclaimed, with more warmth
than he had before evinced.

"I don't suppose you did do that particular thing, but you were guilty
of other low-bred habits which grated just as harshly as that. You
thought because you were a judge and an M.C., and had the reputation of
possessing brains, that it did not matter how you demeaned yourself; and
there you were mistaken. The manners of a gentleman would sit ten times
more gracefully upon you because you had brains. No one likes a boor,
and no man of your ability has any business to be a clown. Even if you
were not taught it at home, you could learn from observation, and it was
your duty to do so. Instead of that, you took it for granted you were
right because no one had ever suggested that you were wrong, while your
mother had petted you to death. I have not the honor of her
acquaintance, but I must say I consider her a very remarkable person,
even for a Western woman."

"My mother was born East," Richard suggested, and Mrs. Van Buren
continued:

"Certainly; but that does not help the matter. It rather makes it worse,