Page:Live and Let Live.djvu/76

 her shoulders, "what signifies an inferno below, if you are in heaven above, as I truly am with French cooking and waiting." "I am in a higher heaven than any of you," said a Mrs. Stedman, "since I went to board—I live in perfect luxury—nothing in the world to do but get up and enjoy myself."

"Oh, as to that," replied Mrs. Ardley, "I never trouble myself about my domestic concerns; what can't be cured must be endured, you know."

"But can you teach your husband your philosophy? does he not fret when he happens to find you out when he comes home to dinner, and the dinner not ready?"

"Never, dear Mrs. Stedman. My husband is one of the best-tempered men in the world; besides, of course, he knows it's all the servants' fault, and there's no use in scolding them—if you dismiss one set you only get a worse in their place. We long ago made up our minds, that where there was no remedy, it was wisest to submit with a grace."

"There is one remedy, thank Heaven," interposed a Mrs. Linton; "we can break up and go to board, as Mrs. Stedman has done, and as we shall all have to do. I have been trying to persuade Mr. Linton to it for the last year."

"What is his objection?" "Oh, he says he married to have a home—he got a surfeit of boarding-houses when he was a bachelor, &c., &c., so we shall have to worry on a while longer; but I take special care to let him know all the torment I have. There's nothing like letting these men share the burden, to make them willing to throw it off. So Mary Henry said, and