“I don’t know, John.” “Well, I know,” said Johns. “Go and get your things on and we will take dinner at the Place Viger, anyway, without conditions; perhaps people have begun to talk already about your being away.”
“Jack,” said Mrs. Johns, with arms about his neck, “you are a horrid, practical beast, and I love you. I’ll be back in a minute,” and she ran upstairs to dress for dinner at the Place Viger. She was a dear woman, and Johns knew it.
Twenty years have passed since that dinner at the Place Viger, and Mrs. Johns has now assorted little Johns; six, from 2 feet high to 5 feet 6; and all Johns’ friends swear she is the best fellow in the world, and all her own friends say she is a charming hostess, a good wife, a fond mother, a sweet woman, or a true friend, according to the degree of intimacy they enjoy. Fact is, she is all of these things.
L’ENVOI
If I should die to-night,
And in the course of time arrive in hell,
I would not feel discomfort or be nervous,
After ten years’ experience in the Civil Service,
If the devil himself should undertake,