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 all the world like an overheated kernel of corn! His only safety, I repeat, is to escape visiting the matchmakers by building a house of his own, in which, perceptibly, there is no room for a wife. It is an expression of conviction, this, and shows him to be so firm in his resolution that there is small hope of dislodging him.

The admirable conduct of Uncle Ezra, then, made it possible for me thus to entrench myself in a dwelling, the atmosphere of which I proposed should resemble that of the Garden of Eden before the appearance of Eve; and, to this intent, I perceived that it must be one in which it would be manifestly impossible for a married couple to exist in anything akin to comfort. In this way only could I expect to make it plain that I was not in the matrimonial market, or likely ever to be.

Now there are two things about a house which are as necessary to a woman as light or air. One is commodious closet-room and