XIV - A LETTER
Alice looked a little paler, her husband a little discontented. Each had a different way of reading her unpleasant speech.
“Don’t mind that old woman, darling, don’t let her bore you. I do believe she has some as odious faults as are to be found on earth.”
“I don’t know what she means by a warning,” said Alice.
“Nor I, darling, I am sure; perhaps she has had a winding-sheet on her candle, or a coffin flew out of the fire, or a death-watch ticked in the wainscot,” he answered.
“A warning, what could she mean?” repeated Alice, slowly, with an anxious gaze in his eyes.
“My darling, how can you? A stupid old woman!” said he a little impatiently, “and thoroughly ill-conditioned. She’s in one of her tempers, just because we laughed, and fancied it was at her; and there’s not
