"My dear," said Mr. Blithers, with decision," you can't tell me."

"I know I can't," said his wife, quite as positively. She knew when
she could tell him a thing and when she couldn't.

It was quite impossible to impart information to Mr. Blithers when he
had the tips of two resolute fingers embedded in his ears. That
happened to be his customary and rather unfair method of conquering
her when an argument was going against him, not for want of logic on
his part, but because it was easier to express himself with his ears
closed than with them open. By this means he effectually shut out the
voice of opposition and had the discussion all to himself. Of course,
it would have been more convincing if he had been permitted to hear
the sound of his own eloquence; still, it was effective.

She was sure to go on talking for two or three minutes and then
subside in despair. A woman will not talk to a stone wall. Nor will
she wantonly allow an argument to die while there remains the
slightest chance of its survival. Given the same situation, a man
would get up and leave his wife sitting there with her fingers in her
ears; and, as he bolted from the room in high dudgeon, he would be
mean enough to call attention to her pig-headedness. In most cases, a
woman is content to listen to a silly argument rather than to leave
the room just because her husband elects to be childish about a
perfectly simple elucidation of the truth.

Mrs. Blithers had lived with Mr. Blithers, more or less, for twenty-
five years and she knew him like a book. He was a forceful person who