"The chintz is a little light; it will show marks almost as much as
the paint, I'm afraid, duck," Mrs. Amber continued. "I don't know if
it wouldn't have been better to choose a darker ground. However, you
can wash these covers at home. The frills are the only parts which you
need to iron. I dare say you know that, dear?"

"Oh, well, I shan't have to think of those things yet, mother. I dare
say Osborn would prefer me to send them to the cleaner's, anyway."

"People live more extravagantly now," said Mrs. Amber. "I should have
done them at home."

"Things change."

Mrs. Amber thought. "In marriage," she stated presently, "someone has
to make sacrifices."

"Why should it be the woman?"

"Because the woman," answered Mrs. Amber quoting someone she had once
heard, "is naturally selected for it."

"Mother," said Marie, "don't be tiresome."

Mrs. Amber went away reluctantly at three o'clock. She was a wise
woman, and did not want to appear ubiquitous. At four, while Marie was
unpacking the trunks they had brought yesterday, Julia came in.

"I begged off an hour earlier," she stated.