tire if I suffered too much, that Mrs.
Badger yielded, like an angel, and I carried my point. The Doctor! We
looked in vain at each other; I for my dandy friend in irreproachable
broadcloth, immaculate shirt bosoms and perfect boots; he for the
brusque, impulsive girl who in ordinary circumstances would have run
dancing into the parlor, would have given him half-glad,
half-indifferent greeting, and then found either occasion to laugh at
him or would have turned elsewhere for amusement. We looked, I say, in
vain. Before me stood my pattern of neatness in a rough uniform of
brown homespun. A dark flannel shirt replaced the snowy cambric one,
and there was neither cravat nor collar to mark the boundary line
between his dark face and the still darker material. And the dear
little boots! O ye gods and little fishes! they were clumsy, and
mud-spattered! If my mouth twitched with laughter as I silently
commented, the Doctor's did not! I, who always danced on my way, came
in lying back on my pillows, and wheeled in by a servant. The Doctor's
sympathy was really touching, and poor consolation he gave when he
heard the story. "You will recover, to a certain extent; but will feel
it more or less all your life."

* * * * *

I am the ruin of all these puns; the gentlemen will hate me; I must
learn to ignore their conundrums until they answer them themselves, and
to wait patiently for the pun instead of catching it and laughing
before it is half-spoken. Why can't I do as the others do? There was
Mr. Van Ingen with his constant stream of them, that I anticipated
several times. He said to me, "If I were asked what town in Louisiana I
would rather be in this evening, what would my answer be?" I should
have looked perfectly innocent, and politely inquisitive; but I did
neither. I saw the answer instantly, and laughed. "Ah, you have
guessed! I can see it in your eyes!" he said. Of course I had, but I
told him I was afraid to say it, for fear he might think I was
flattering myself. Then we both laughed. The place he referred to was
_Bayou, Sarah_....

Yesterday, being a beautiful day, I was carried down in honor of
Christmas, to meet Captain Fenner and Mr. Duggan who were to dine with
us. The cars had brought Miriam a beautiful little set of collars and
cuffs from Dellie, and the oddest, sweetest little set for me, from
Morgan, for our Christmas gift. It is all Lilly....

We had an exquisite Ch