“But then, how much more ample and airy the room looks as you open the door, and see through the bow-window down that little glen, and that distant peep of the village-spire!” “But I never could be reconciled to the piano standing in the corner in that way,” says the lady. “_I insist_ upon it, it ought to stand in the bow-window: it’s the way mamma’s stands, and Aunt Jane’s, and Mrs. Wilcox’s; everybody has their piano so.” “If it comes to _insisting_,” says the gentleman, “it strikes me that is a game two can play at.” “Why, my dear, you know a lady’s parlor is her own ground.” “Not a married lady’s parlor, I imagine. I believe it is at least equally her husband’s, as he expects to pass a good portion of his time there.” “But I don’t think you ought to insist on an arrangement that really is disagreeable to me,” says the lady. “And I don’t think you ought to insist on an arrangement that is really disagreeable to me,” says the gentleman. And now Hero’s cheeks flush, and the spirit burns within, as she says,-- “Well, if you insist upon it I suppose it must be as you say; but I shall never take any pleasure in playing on it”; and Hero sweeps from the apartment, leaving the victor very unhappy in his conquest. He rushes after her, and finds her up-stairs sitting disconsolate and weeping on a packing-box. “Now, Hero, how silly! Do have it your own way. I’ll give it up.” “No,--let it be as you say. I forgot that it was a wife’s duty to submit.” “Nonsense, Hero! Do talk like a rational woman. Don’t let us quarrel like children.” “But it’s so evident that I was in the right.” “My dear, I cannot concede that you were in the right; but I am willing it should be as you say.” “Now I perfectly wonder, Leander, that you don’t see how awkward your way is. It would make me nervous every time I came into the room, and it would be so dark in that corner that I never could see the notes.” “And I wonder, Hero, that a woman of your taste don’t see how shutting up that bow-window spoils the parlor. It’s the very prettiest feature of the room.”