142 A WAY TO BE HAPPY.

the supper-table with knit brows and tight-
ly compressed lips. Not a word passed
during the meal.

After supper, Mr. Parker looked around
him for some means of passing the time.
The newspapers were read through; it still
rained heavily without ; he could not ask
his wife to play a game at backgammon.

“Oh dear!” he sighed, reclining back
upon the sofa, and there he lay far half an
hour, feeling as he had never felt in his
life. At nine o'clock he went to bed, and
remained awake for half the night.

Much to his satisfaction, when he opened.
his eyes on the next morning, the sun was
shining into his window brightly. He
would not be confined to the house so close-
ly for another day.

A few weeks sufficed to exhaust all of
Mr. Parker's time-killing resources. The
newspapers, he complained, did not contain
any thing of interest now. Having retired
on his money, and set up for something of