Besides, you have not had your dinner."
"That's not of the slightest consequence, ma'am. A bit of bread
and cheese before I go to bed is all I need to sustain nature, and
fit me for understanding my proposition in Euclid. I have been in
the habit, for the last few years, of reading one every night before
I go to bed."
"We dissenters consider a chapter of the Bible the best thing to
read before going to bed," said the lady, with a sustained voice.
"I keep that for the noontide of my perceptions--for mental high
water," said the schoolmaster, "Euclid is good enough after supper.
Not that I deny myself a small portion of the Word," he added with
a smile, as he proceeded to open the door--" when I feel very
hungry for it."
"There is no one expecting you," persisted the lady, who could ill
endure not to have her own way, even when she did not care for the
matter concerned. "Who will be the wiser or the worse if you stay
at home?"
"My dear lady," returned the schoolmaster, "when I have on good
grounds made up my mind to a thing, I always feel as if I had
promised God to do it; and indeed it amounts to the same thing very
nearly. Such a resolve then is not to be unmade except on equally
good grounds with those upon which it was made. Having resolved
to try whether I could not draw a little water of refreshment for
souls which if not thirsting are but fainting the more, shall I
allow a few drops of rain to prevent me?"
"Pray don't let me persuade you against your will," said his hostess,
with a stately bend of her neck over her shoulder, as she turned
into the drawing room.
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