254 DECEMBER 255 



Petunia has employed her Boxing Day to good 

 advantage by coming over to see me after an 

 absence of some weeks. She was rather amusing, 

 which is not her wont, unless without intention. 

 She told me that she had just come from the 

 Cottage Hospital at Oldborough, where she had 

 been asked to pay a visit to a protegee of her Vicar. 

 The woman was evidently suffering from some 

 injury to her arm, and Petunia asked what ailed it. 



"Oh," replied the patient, "it was bitten by a 

 lady friend." 



The hospital is situated, appropriately enough, 

 next to the churchyard, and a newly made grave 

 attracted Petunia's attention as she passed. Like a 

 good many other people, she can never resist the 

 temptation to examine funeral wreaths and their 

 inscriptions. The uppermost one bore a large card 

 inscribed 



" With deep sympathy from his widow and children." 



There is a touching as well as a humorous sugges- 

 tion about this. The survivors evidently were con- 

 vinced that they had the best of it, and sincerely 

 commiserated the corpse. 



Petunia was very happy. Her affairs seem to be 

 arranging themselves comfortably, and I have no 

 doubt that before long the great news will be suffi- 

 ciently authorised to allow of its being announced 

 to who cares to hear it. But she is still a little 

 anxious. She dreamed three nights ago about her 

 toes, and as if this was not a sufficiently bad omen, 

 she dreamed the next night that she was eating 

 fish. So she has intervals of despair alternating 



