 Living in his neighbourhood,
I saw him frequently; and we all went to his house on two or three occasions to
dinner or tea. The Old Soldier was in permanent quarters under the Doctors roof.
She was exactly the same as ever, and the same immortal butterflies hovered over
her cap.
    Like some other mothers, whom I have known in the course of my life, Mrs.
Markleham was far more fond of pleasure than her daughter was. She required a
great deal of amusement, and, like a deep old soldier, pretended, in consulting
her own inclinations, to be devoting herself to her child. The Doctor's desire
that Annie should be entertained, was therefore particularly acceptable to this
excellent parent; who expressed unqualified approval of his discretion.
    I have no doubt, indeed, that she probed the Doctor's wound without knowing
it. Meaning nothing but a certain matured frivolity and selfishness, not always
inseparable from full-blown years, I think she confirmed him in his fear that he
was a constraint upon his young wife, and that there was no congeniality of
feeling between them, by so strongly commending his design of lightening the
load of her life.
    »My dear soul,« she said to him one day when I was present, »you know there
is no doubt it would be a little pokey for Annie to be always shut up here.«
    The Doctor nodded his benevolent head.
    »When she comes to her mother's age,« said Mrs. Markleham, with a flourish
of her fan, »then it'll be another thing. You might put ME into a Jail, with
genteel society and a rubber, and I should never care to come out. But I am not
Annie, you know; and Annie is not her mother.«
    »Surely, surely,« said the Doctor.
    »You are the best of creatures - no, I beg your pardon!« for the Doctor made
a gesture of deprecation, »I must say before your face, as I always say behind
your back, you are the best of creatures; but of course you don't - now do you?
- enter into the same pursuits and fancies as Annie.«
    »No,« said the Doctor, in a sorrowful tone.
    »No, of course not,« retorted the Old Soldier. »Take your Dictionary, for
example. What a useful work a Dictionary is! What a necessary work! The meanings
of words! Without Doctor Johnson, or somebody of that sort, we might have been
at this present
