COMMUTER'S WIFE 227 



hot chocolate sauce with what to my benighted vision 

 seemed to be a silver toothpick ! A sub-butler finally 

 brought me an ice-cream fork, warm from the dish 

 water, greatly in contrast to his chilly glance. 



"When I retrospected later, I discovered the spiked 

 tool was meant to unscale the artichokes, and 'twas 

 there I dropped the stitch. But tell it not, Familiar 

 Spirit, until you hear my excuse. My dinner partner 

 was the last of six who in two weeks' time had said, 

 'Don't you get jolly bored living in the country?' 

 as if they had rehearsed the words and tone in 

 chorus." 



I never before formulated how crude and narrowly 

 cockneyfied the town life is here in the United 

 States until I went away. What English gentleman 

 would ask a country-living woman if her life bored 

 her? 



Two weeks of this instead of the home-table talk, 

 and a weird entree constantly at your elbow in lieu of a 

 dog's soft nose ! And the after talk about who won 

 at " bridge " that afternoon, or whether it should be 

 Lakewood for the week-end, or if the husbands could 

 be coaxed as far as Aitkin. Think of it, instead 

 of listening to father and Evan's book arguments, 

 comfortably curled up in the ingle nook. Or if they 

 were silently busy, strolling about old London with 



