A clergyman who was very popular with his congregation saw a lady about to call whom he was anxious not to meet. So he said to his wife:
“I’ll run upstairs, my dear, and escape till she goes away.”
After about an hour he quietly tiptoed to the stair landing and listened. All was quiet below. Reassured, he began to descend, and called out over the balustrade:
“Well, my dear, you got rid of that old bore at last?”
The next instant a voice from below rooted him to the spot. It was the voice of the caller! Then came a response which sounded inexpressibly sweet to him. It was the voice of his wife:
“Yes, dear, she went away over an hour ago; but here is our good friend, Mrs. Blank, whom I am sure you want to meet.”
A lady and her little daughter were walking through a fashionable street when they came to a portion of the street strewn with straw, so as to deaden the noise of vehicles passing a certain house.