“Dr. Matthews, how do you like being preached at?”

“Preached at?” the doctor echoed, with a sleepy air.

“Yes, preached at.  I’m sure, if you were not asleep this morning, you must have heard yourself all but called by name.  Who else could Dr. Selmser have been hinting at when he burst forth with such a tirade on whist parties?  It isn’t a week since we had ours, and he almost described what we had for supper.”

“Fudge!” said Dr. Matthews.  He was occasionally more apt to be expressive than elegant in his expressions.  “What do you suppose he knows about our party?  There were a dozen, I dare say, that very evening, and as many more the next evening.  They are common enough, I am sure.  And he didn’t say anything personal, nor anything very bad, anyhow.  They all take that position—­have to, I suppose; it’s a part of their business. I don’t like them any the less for it.  I wouldn’t listen to a preacher who played whist.”

Mrs. Matthews set her pretty lips in a most determined way, and answered, in an injured tone: 

“Oh, well, if you like to be singled out in that manner, and held up as an example before the whole congregation, I’m sure you’re welcome to the enjoyment; but as for me, I think it is just an insult.”

“Stuff and nonsense!” echoed the doctor.  “How you women can work yourselves into a riot over nothing.  Now you know he didn’t say any more than he has a dozen times before.  In fact, he was rather mild on that point, I thought; and I concluded he considered he had said about all there was to be said in that line, and might as well slip it over.  There wasn’t a personal sentence in it, anyhow.  The doctor is a gentleman.  More than that, I don’t believe he knows we had a whist party.  If he set out to keep track of all the parties there are in his congregation it would make a busy life for him.  Your conscience must have reproached you, Maria.”

“Well, some people are less sensitive than others, I suppose.  I know men who wouldn’t like to have their wives talked about as freely as yours was from the pulpit this morning.  I tell you, Dr. Matthews, that he meant me, and I know it, and I don’t mean to stand it, if you do.”

“How will you help it?” the doctor asked, and he laughed outright.  It did seem ridiculously funny to him.  “A tempest in a thimble,” he called it.  His wife was given to having them.

“What will you do about it?  Fight him, or what?  It’s a free country, and the man has a right to his opinions, even if you don’t agree with him.  Better hush up, Maria.  I don’t believe in duels, and they are against the law in this country besides; you are powerless, you see.”