"So much the worse for YOU. That means she can't turn round."

"She'll do for the fashionable novels."

"Oh yes, she'll DO for them!" my model humorously declared. "Ain't
they bad enough without her?" I had often sociably denounced them
to Miss Churm.



CHAPTER III



It was for the elucidation of a mystery in one of these works that
I first tried Mrs. Monarch. Her husband came with her, to be
useful if necessary--it was sufficiently clear that as a general
thing he would prefer to come with her. At first I wondered if
this were for "propriety's" sake--if he were going to be jealous
and meddling. The idea was too tiresome, and if it had been
confirmed it would speedily have brought our acquaintance to a
close. But I soon saw there was nothing in it and that if he
accompanied Mrs. Monarch it was--in addition to the chance of being
wanted--simply because he had nothing else to do. When they were
separate his occupation was gone, and they never HAD been separate.
I judged rightly that in their awkward situation their close union
was their main comfort and that this union had no weak spot. It
was a real marriage, an encouragement to the hesitating, a nut for
pessimists to crack. Their address was humble--I remember
afterwards thinking it had been the only thing about them that was