She spoke
little, ate largely, and slept much--the latter recreation being very
frequently enjoyed in a large arm-chair of a peculiar kind. It had
been a water-butt, which her ingenious husband had cut half-way down
the middle, then half-way across, and in the angle thus formed fixed
a bottom, which, together with the back, he padded with tow, and
covered the whole with a mantle of glaring bed-curtain chintz, whose
pattern alternated in stripes of sky-blue and china roses, with
broken fragments of the rainbow between. Notwithstanding her
excessive slowness, however, Mrs, Grant was fond of taking a firm
hold of anything or any circumstance in the character or affairs of
her friends, and twitting them thereupon in a grave but persevering
manner that was exceedingly irritating. No one could ever ascertain
whether Mrs. Grant did this in a sly way or not, as her visage never
expressed anything except unalterable good-humour. She was a good
wife and an affectionate mother; had a family of ten children, and
could boast of never having had more than one quarrel with her
husband. This disagreement was occasioned by a rather awkward
mischance. One day, not long after her last baby was born, Mrs. Grant
waddled towards her tub with the intention of enjoying her accustomed
siesta. A few minutes previously, her seventh child, which was just
able to walk, had scrambled up into the seat and fallen fast asleep
there. As has been already said, Mrs. Grant's intellect was never
very bright, and at this particular time she was rather drowsy, so
that she did not observe the child, and on reaching her chair, turned
round preparatory to letting herself plump into it.
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