The Stories of H. C. Bunner; Short Sixes, Stories to Be Read While the Candle Burns; The Suburban Sage, Stray Notes and Comments on His Simple Life (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ... THE NICE PEOPLE "A I AHEY certainly are nice people," I asI sented to my wife's observation, using-L the colloquial phrase with a consciousness that it was any thing but "nice" English, "and I'll bet that their three children are better brought up than most of--" ttTwo children," corrected my wife. "Three, he told me." "My dear, she said there were two." "He said three." "You've simply forgotten. I'm sure she told me they had only two--a boy and a girl." "Well, I didn't enter into particulars." "No, dear, and you couldn't have understood him. Two children." "All right," I said; but I did not think it was all right. As a near-sighted man learns by enforced observation to recognize persons at a distance when the face is not visible to the normal eye, so the man with a bad memory learns, almost unconsciously, to listen carefully and report accurately. My memory is bad; but I had not had time to forget that Mr. Brewster Brede had told me that afternoon that he had three children, at present left in the care of his mother-in-law, while he and Mrs. Brede took their Summer vacation. "Two children," repeated my wife; "and they are staying with his aunt Jenny." "He told me with his mother-in-law," I put in. My wife looked at me with a serious expression. Men may not remember much of what they are told about children; but any man knows the difference between an aunt and a mother-in-law. "But don't you think they're nice people?" asked my wife. "Oh, certainly," I replied. "Only they seem to be a little mixed up about their children." "That isn't a nice thing to say," returned my wife. I could not deny it. And yet, the next morning, when the Bredes came down and seated themselves opposite us at table, beaming and smiling in their natural, pleasant, ...