"And Miss Prettyman--I won't hold my tongue. I WILL talk of Miss
Prettyman: who's she, indeed, that I shouldn't talk of her? I
suppose she thinks she sings? What do you say?

"SHE SINGS LIKE A MERMAID?

"Yes, very--very like a mermaid; for she never sings but she exposes
herself. She might, I think, have chosen another song. 'I LOVE
SOMEBODY,' indeed; as if I didn't know who was meant by that
'somebody'; and all the room knew it, of course; and that was what it
was done for, nothing else.

"However, Mr. Caudle, as my mind's made up, I shall say no more about
the matter to-night, but try to go to sleep."

"And to my astonishment and gratitude," writes Caudle, "she kept her
word."



LECTURE XXII--CAUDLE COMES HOME IN THE EVENING, AS MRS. CAUDLE HAS
"JUST STEPPED OUT, SHOPPING." ON HER RETURN, AT TEN, CAUDLE
REMONSTRATES



"Mr. Caudle, you ought to have had a slave--yes, a black slave, and
not a wife. I'm sure, I'd better been born a negro at once--much
better.