go dirty."

"Lazy minx!" said Meadows, good-humouredly, with his mouth full of
tea-cake. "At last I have something good to look at in this room." He
turned his eyes caressingly towards the new coal-scuttle. "I suppose I
shall have to clean it myself!"

Doris laughed again--this time almost hysterically--but was checked by a
fresh entrance of Jane, who, with an air of defiance, deposited a heavy
parcel on a chair beside her mistress, and flounced out again.

"What is this?" said Doris in consternation. "_Books_? More books?
Heavens, Arthur, what have you been ordering now! I couldn't sleep last
night for thinking of the book-bills."

"You little goose! Of course, I must buy books! Aren't they my tools, my
stock-in-trade? Haven't these lectures justified the book-bills a dozen
times over?"

This time Arthur Meadows surveyed his wife in real irritation and
disgust.

"But, Arthur!--you could get them _all_ at the London Library--you know
you could!"

"And pray how much time do I waste in going backwards and forwards after
books? Any man of letters worth his salt wants a library of his
own--within reach of his hand."

"Yes, if he can pay for it!" said Doris, with plaintive emphasis, as she