put the matter into better training. With a heavy tread, a tread that was intended to mark his determination, he ascended to the drawing-room and from thence to the bed-room above in which Mrs. Tappitt was then seated. She understood the meaning of the footfall, and knew well that it indicated a purpose of marital authority. A woman must have much less of natural wit than had fallen to Mrs. Tappitt's share, who has not learned from the experience of thirty years the meaning of such marital signs and sounds. So she sat herself firmly in her seat, caught hold of the petticoat which she was mending with a stout grasp, and prepared herself for the battle. "Margaret," said he, when he had carefully closed the door behind him, "I have come up to say that I do not intend to dine at home to-day." "Oh, indeed," said she. "At the Dragon, I suppose then." "Yes; at the Dragon. I've been asked to take the chair at a popular meeting which is to be held with reference to the late election." "Take the chair!" "Yes, my dear, take the chair at the meeting and at the dinner." "Now, T., don't you make a fool of yourself." "No, I won't; but Margaret, I must tell you once for all that that is not the way in which I like you to speak to me. Why you should have so much less confidence in my judgment than other people in Baslehurst, I cannot conceive; but--" "Now, T., look here; as for your taking the chair as you call it, of course you can do it if you like it." "Of course I can; and I do like it, and I mean to do it. But it isn't only about that I've come to speak to you. You said something to me to-day, before Honyman, that was very improper." "What I say always is improper, I know." "I don't suppose you could have intended to insinuate that you thought that I was a lunatic." "I didn't say so." "You said something like it." "No, I didn't, T." "Yes you did, Margaret." "If you'll allow me for a moment, T., I'll tell you what I did say, and if you wish it, I'll say it again." "No; I'd rather not hear it said again." "But, T., I don't choose to be misunderstood, nor yet misrepresented." "I haven't misrepresented you." "But I say you have misrepresented me. If I ain't allowed to speak a word, of course it isn't any use for me to open my mouth. I hope I know what my duty is and I hope I've done it;--both by you, T., and by the children. I know I'm bound to submit, and I hope I have submitted. Very hard it has been sometimes when I've seen things going as they have gone; but I've remembered my duty as a wife, and I've held my tongue when any other woman in England would have spoken out. But there are some things which a woman can't stand and shouldn't; and if I'm to see my girls ruined and left without a roof over their heads, or a bit to eat, or a thing to wear, it shan't be for want of a word from me." "Didn't they always have plenty to eat?"