When he gets criticising Dr.Butterfield's sermons and books, I have sometimes to pretend that I hear somebody at the front door, so that I can go out in the hall and have an uproarious laugh without being indecorous.

It is one of the great amusements of my life to have on opposite sides of my tea-table Dr.Butterfield and Mr.Givemfits.
But we have many others who come to our tea-table: Miss Smiley, who often runs in about six o'clock.

All sweetness is Miss Smiley.

She seems to like everybody, and everybody seems to like her.

Also Miss Stinger, sharp as a hornet, prides herself on saying things that cut; dislikes men; cannot bear the sight of a pair of boots; loathes a shaving apparatus; thinks Eve would have shown better capacity for housekeeping if she had, the first time she used her broom, swept Adam out of Paradise.