CHAPTER VI.
Mrs.Gallilee was as complete a mistress of the practice of domestic virtue as of the theory of acoustics and fainting fits.

At dressing with taste, and ordering dinners with invention; at heading her table gracefully, and making her guests comfortable; at managing refractory servants and detecting dishonest tradespeople, she was the equal of the least intellectual woman that ever lived.

Her preparations for the reception of her niece were finished in advance, without an oversight in the smallest detail.

Carmina's inviting bedroom, in blue, opened into Carmina's irresistible sitting-room, in brown.

The ventilation was arranged, the light and shade were disposed, the flowers were attractively placed, under Mrs.Gallilee's infallible superintendence.
Before Carmina had recovered her senses she was provided with a second mother, who played the part to perfection.
The four persons, now assembled in the pretty sitting-room upstairs, were in a position of insupportable embarrassment towards each other.
Finding her son at a concert (after he had told her that he hated music) Mrs.Gallilee, had first discovered him hurrying to the assistance of a young lady in a swoon, with all the anxiety and alarm which he might have shown in the case of a near and dear friend.