introduced to this room, and a formal introduction is necessary. You
must be made acquainted with the primary law of its being;" and as Mrs.
Walters paused, dropping her hands into her lap and regarding me with
an air of mystification, I went on:

"When I had repairs made in my house last summer, I had this fireplace
rebuilt, and I ordered an inscription to be burnt into the bricks. We
expect to ask that all our guests will kindly notice this inscription,
in order to avoid accidents or misunderstandings. So I beg of you not
to speak until you have read the words over the fireplace."

Mrs. Walters wonderingly read the following legend, running in an arch
across the chimney:


Good friend, around these hearth-stones speak
no evil word of any creature.


She wheeled towards me with instantaneous triumph.

"I'm glad you put it there!" she cried. "I'm glad you put it there!
It will teach them a lesson about their talking. If there is one thing
I _cannot_ stand it is a gossip."

I have observed that a fowl before a looking-glass will fight its own
image.

"Take care, Mrs. Walters!" I said, gently. "You came very near to
violating the law just then."