and
Mrs. Nibby, ceased from the wrangling that follows upon a honeymoon,
and incited each other to a more profitable contest. The Parish
household devoted every possible moment with native earnestness to
the choice and the weighing of vocables. Polly Sparkes, unable to
get upon the track of her missing uncle, abandoned her fiery
intelligence to the missing word. The Cheeseman couple, Mrs. Bubb,
nay, even Moggie the general, dared verbal conjecture and risked
postage stamps. Only in a certain china shop near Battersea Park
Road was the tumult unregarded, for Mrs. Clover had fallen from her
wonted health, her happy temper, and Minnie in good truth cared
neither for the recreation nor the dangled prize.
When Gammon and Polly met they talked no longer of Lord Polperro or
Uncle Clover, but of words.
"I've got it this time, Polly! I swear I've got it! 'Undeserved
misfortune is often a--to the noble mind.' Why, it's _stimulus_, of
course!"
"I never heard the word," declared Polly. "I'm sending in _stroke_."
"_Stroke_? What do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean by it? Why, what they want to say is, that
'Undeserved misfortune is often a _blow_ to the noble mind,' don't
they? But _blow_ can't be the word, 'cause everybody'd get it.
Pages:
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326