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Gaston shrugged his shoulders, lit a cigarette, and smiled at Mrs Pulchop. 'My dear lady, he said, blandly, 'pray attend to your medicine bottles and leave my domestic affairs alone; you certainly understand the one, but I doubt your ability to come to any conclusion regarding the other.
'Why don't you send her to the hospital? said Vandeloup, with a yawn, looking at his watch. 'Never, retorted Mrs Pulchop, in a decisively shrill voice; 'their medicines ain't pure, and they leaves you at the mercy of doctors to be practised on like a pianer.
She was often heard to declare, when anything extra-ordinary happened, that one might 'knock her down with a feather', which, as a matter of fact, was by no means a stretch of fancy, provided the feather was a strong one and Mrs Pulchop was taken unawares.
Mrs Pulchop was vastly indignant at Vandeloup neglecting his wife, for, of course, she never thought she was anything else to the young man, and did all in her power to cheer the girl up, which, however, was not much, as Mrs Pulchop herself was decidedly of a funereal disposition. Meanwhile, Gaston was leading a very gay life in Melbourne.
'Toothache, growled Topsy, in reply, 'not gumboil; the remedy suggested by Mrs Pulchop being for the latter of these ills. 'You are quite well, at any rate, said Kitty to Anna, cheerfully. Anna, however, declined to be considered in good health. 'I fancy my back is going to ache, she said, darkly placing her hand in the small of it.
It is said that 'creaking doors hang the longest, and Mrs Pulchop, of Carthage Cottage, Richmond, was an excellent illustration of the truth of this saying. Thin, pale, with light bleached-looking hair, and eyebrows and eyelashes to match, she looked so shadowy and unsubstantial, than an impression was conveyed to the onlooker that a breath might blow her away.
Miss Topsy Pulchop was tying a bandage round her face, as she felt a toothache coming on, while Miss Anna Pulchop was unfortunately quite well, and her occupation being gone, was seated disconsolately at the window trying to imagine she felt pains in her back.
It was not a regular boarding-house, but the lady who owned it, Mrs Pulchop by name, was in the habit of letting apartments on reasonable terms; so Vandeloup had taken up his abode there with Kitty, who passed as his wife. But though he paid her all the deference and respect due to a wife, and though she wore a marriage ring, yet, as a matter of fact, they were not married.
'Well, Bebe, he said, brightly, as he bent down and kissed her, 'here I am, you see; I hope you've got a nice dinner for me? 'Oh, yes, answered Kitty, trying to smile, and walking before him into the house; 'I told Mrs Pulchop, and she has made special preparations. 'How is that walking hospital? asked Vandeloup, carelessly taking off his hat; 'I suppose she is ill as usual.
He had found a letter from Kitty in the bedroom, in which she had bidden him good-bye for ever, but this he did not show to Mrs Pulchop, merely stating to that worthy lady that his 'wife' had left him. 'And it ain't to be wondered at, the outraged angel, she said to Gaston, as he stood at the door, faultlessly dressed, ready to go into town; 'the way you treated her were shameful.
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