“What's amiss?” blazed Mrs. Mudge. “I'll let you know. Do you see this?”
She seized the broken broom and flourished it in his face.
“Broken your broom, have you? You must have been careless.”
“Careless, was I?” demanded Mrs. Mudge, sarcastically. “Yes, of course, it's always I that am in fault.”
“You haven't broken it over the back of any of the paupers, have you?” asked her husband, who, knowing his helpmeet's infirmity of temper, thought it possible she might have indulged in such an amusement.
“If I had broken it over anybody's back it would have been yours,” said the lady.
“Mine! what have I been doing?”
“It's what you haven't done,” said Mrs. Mudge. “You're about the laziest and most shiftless man I ever came across.”
“Come, what does all this mean?” demanded Mr. Mudge, who was getting a little angry in his turn.
“I'll let you know. Just look out of that window, will you?”