"Raymond, Raymond!" she cried as she threw herself down by him. "Dear Raymond, what is the matter?"
THE COLOUR-SHOP WINDOW.
"O Madge, my head, my head! I could not bear it any longer."
He raised it for a moment, and Madge caught a sight of his fevered cheeks and heavy tired eyes. She thought for an instant what was best to be done, then ran down-stairs to call their landlady. Now, Mrs. Smiley was in the midst of her cooking operations, and as she bent over her large saucepan, she did not like being interrupted by the sudden appearance of one of her top lodgers.
"What do you want? Don't you see I'm busy?" she said roughly, as she turned a very red face round from the fire to Madge.
But Madge, in her terror for Raymond, gained courage. "If you please, ma'am, do come and see Raymond; he is so ill, and I don't know what to do."
"And who's to take this saucepan off, I should like to know, or baste the meat? Do you think I'm to be at the beck and call of top-flight lodgers, who only pay five shillings a-week, and that not regular. I can tell you then that you're in the wrong box, young woman, so you'd best be off."
AN UNGRACIOUS LANDLADY.