“Well, this life is too much for me,” murmured Mrs. Purblind drearily.
“Then don’t attempt the next.”
“I shan’t, if I can help it, and yet I’m like to soon, for Mr. Purblind’s mother is coming on a visit to us, and I know she’ll worry the breath out of me.”
“Don’t let her.”
“How can I help it?”
“By keeping the peace with her.”
“Oh, I’ve tried that before; I’ve done everything I could for her, and deferred to her, and ignored myself until I seemed to fade out of existence, but it didn’t work.”
“Oh, yes, it did, for it made her ten times as troublesome as before.”
“It certainly did, but what do you mean?”
“I mean that a mother-in-law is like a child, in that she is spoiled by having her own way.”