material, 2d.; total 18s. 2d."

He took a dislike to the cook from the very first. We did not blame
him for this. She was a disagreeable old woman, and we did not think
much of her ourselves. But when it came to keeping her out of the
kitchen, so that she could not do her work, and my aunt and uncle had
to cook the dinner themselves, assisted by the housemaid--a
willing-enough girl, but necessarily inexperienced--we felt that the
woman was being subject to persecution.

My uncle, after this, decided that the dog's training must be no
longer neglected. The man next door but one always talked as if he
knew a lot about sporting matters, and to him my uncle went for advice
as to how to set about it.

"Oh, yes," said the man, cheerfully, "very simple thing, training a
bull-dog. Wants patience, that's all."

"Oh, that will be all right," said my uncle; "it can't want much more
than living in the same house with him before he's trained does. How
do you start?"

"Well, I'll tell you," said next-door-but-one. "You take him up into
a room where there's not much furniture, and you shut the door and
bolt it."

"I see," said my uncle.

"Then you place him on the floor in the middle of the room, and you go
down on your knees in front of him, and begin to irritate him."