I'll send my husband over;" and then she lounged away, leaving poor Mary
North silent with indignation. But that night at tea Gussie said that
she thought strong-minded ladies were very unladylike; "they say she's
strong-minded," she added, languidly.

"Lady!" said the Captain. "She's a man-o'-war's man in petticoats."

Gussie giggled.

"She's as thin as a lath," the Captain declared; "if it hadn't been for
her face, I wouldn't have known whether she was coming bow or stern on."

"I think," said Mrs. Cyrus, "that that woman has some motive in bringing
her mother back here; and _right across the street_, too!"

"What motive?" said Cyrus.

But Augusta waited for conjugal privacy to explain herself: "Cyrus, I
worry so, because I'm sure that woman thinks she can catch your father
again.--Oh, just listen to that harmonicon downstairs! It sets my teeth
on edge!"

Then Cyrus, the silent, servile first mate, broke out: "Gussie, you're a
fool!"

And Augusta cried all night, and showed herself at the breakfast-table
lantern-jawed and sunken-eyed; and her father-in-law judged it wise to
sprinkle his cigar ashes behind the stable.

The day that Mrs. North arrived in Old Chester, Mrs. Cyrus commanded the