Gardner's family all ate at the same table over which the first wife presided.

She was, indeed, mistress of the house, the other wives treating her with great respect, and all were, to all outward appearance, quite friendly.

Gardner bestowed much attention on his first wife, though I always suspected that he was just a little more fond of the youngest one, and I did not blame him much for she manifested strong affection for him even in the presence of the others, and yet there was no outward manifestation of jealousy.
The second, or the one I will call the second because she was in age between the others, and was the mother of the third or youngest, a widowed mother and her daughter having been sealed to Gardner at the same time, the first wife having given her consent and standing with them at the triple matrimonial altar, and then and there joining in the sacred ceremony.

As I was about to say, the second wife seemed to be pleased at the manifestation of affection for the common husband by the youngest wife, and No.

1 would in a good-humored way say:--"My, Annie, don't be so demonstrative in the presence of other people," when the husband would laugh and go and kiss No.