"Let our friends come to see _us_, and not to hear a piano," exclaimed
the husband.

"But, George, everybody has a piano now-a-days--we don't go anywhere
without seeing a piano," persisted the wife.

"And yet I don't know what we want one for--you will have no time to
play on one, and I don't want to hear it."

"Why, they are so fashionable--I think our room looks nearly naked
without one."

"I think it looks just right."

"I think it looks very naked--we want a piano shockingly," protested
Esther emphatically.

The husband rocked violently.

"Your lamp smokes, my dear," said he, after a long pause.

"When are you going to get a camphene lamp? I have told you a dozen
times how much we need one," said Esther pettishly.

"These are very pretty lamps--I never can see by a camphene lamp,"
said her husband. "These lamps are the prettiest of the kind I ever
saw."

"But, George, I do not think our room is complete without a camphene