Mrs. Amber said equably:

"Now I'll run into the kitchen and find what I shall find, my dear.
You're not to trouble yourself to think and tell me what; I was
housekeeping before you were born. And meanwhile, if I were you, I'd
undo my frock and take off my corsets and be really comfortable. You
be a good girl, dear, and do as you're told just this once, to please
your silly old mother."

Docilely Marie sat up, unhooked her trim skirt-band, and unfastened
her corsets. At once she felt lightened. _How_ wise these
dreadful matrons were! She did more; she cast her skirt and blouse
aside with the corsets, and when Mrs. Amber returned she found her
lying rest fully under the eiderdown, untrammelled, in thin petticoat
and camisole.

"Eggs?" said Marie, craning her neck to look. "They were for Osborn's
breakfast--two boiled eggs, mother."

"Well, they're poached now, duck," said Mrs. Amber; "they've gone to
glory. Let Osborn have bacon; there's half a dozen rashers in your
larder."

"He had bacon this morning."

"Let him have it again," said the comfortable lady.

"Julia's coming to dinner to-night," Marie confided to her mother.
"Osborn's dining with Mr. Rokeby, but he's sending us both to the