Wrong foot out of bed this morning ?" Her door slammed, and there followed a lazy laugh from Mr.Gammon's chamber.
In due time the can of hot water was brought up, and soon after it came a tray for Mr.Gammon, on which, together with his breakfast, lay the three newspapers he had bespoken.

Polly Sparkes throughout her leisurely toilet was moved to irritation and curiosity by the sound of frequent laughter on the other side of the party wall--uproarious peals, long chucklings in a falsetto key, staccato bursts of mirth.
"That is the comic stuff in 'Clippings,'" she said to herself with an involuntary grin.

"What a fool he is! And why's he staying in bed this morning?
Got his holiday, I suppose.

I'd make better use of it than that." She came forth presently in such light and easy costume as befitted a young lady of much leisure on a hot morning of June.

Meaning to pass an hour or two in quarrelling with Mrs.Bubb she had arrayed herself thus early with more care than usual, that her colours and perfumes might throw contempt upon the draggle-tailed landlady, whom, by the by, she had known since her childhood.