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Sketches of Young Couples. Charles Dickens

THE CONTRADICTORY COUPLE

One would suppose that two people who are to pass their whole lives together, and must necessarily be very often alone with each other, could find little pleasure in mutual contradiction; and yet what is more common than a contradictory couple?

The contradictory couple agree in nothing but contradiction. They return home from Mrs. Bluebottle′s dinner-party, each in an opposite corner of the coach, and do not exchange a syllable until they have been seated for at least twenty minutes by the fireside at home, when the gentleman, raising his eyes from the stove, all at once breaks silence:

′What a very extraordinary thing it is,′ says he, ′that you WILL contradict, Charlotte!′ ′_I_ contradict!′ cries the lady, ′but that′s just like you.′ ′What′s like me?′ says the gentleman sharply. ′Saying that I contradict you,′ replies the lady. ′Do you mean to say that you do NOT contradict me?′ retorts the gentleman; ′do you mean to say that you have not been contradicting me the whole of this day?′ ′Do you mean to tell me now, that you have not? I mean to tell you nothing of the kind,′ replies the lady quietly; ′when you are wrong, of course I shall contradict you.′

During this dialogue the gentleman has been taking his brandy-and- water on one side of the fire, and the lady, with her dressing-case on the table, has been curling her hair on the other. She now lets down her back hair, and proceeds to brush it; preserving at the same time an air of conscious rectitude and suffering virtue, which is intended to exasperate the gentleman—and does so.

′I do believe,′ he says, taking the spoon out of his glass, and tossing it on the table, ′that of all the obstinate, positive, wrong-headed creatures that were ever born, you are the most so, Charlotte.′ ′Certainly, certainly, have it your own way, pray. You see how much _I_ contradict you,′ rejoins the lady. ′Of course, you didn′t contradict me at dinner-time—oh no, not you!′ says the gentleman. ′Yes, I did,′ says the lady. ′Oh, you did,′ cries the gentleman ′you admit that?′ ′If you call that contradiction, I do,′ the lady answers; ′and I say again, Edward, that when I know you are wrong, I will contradict you. I am not your slave.′ ′Not my slave!′ repeats the gentleman bitterly; ′and you still mean to say that in the Blackburns′ new house there are not more than fourteen doors, including the door of the wine- cellar!′ ′I mean to say,′ retorts the lady, beating time with her hair-brush on the palm of her hand, ′that in that house there are fourteen doors and no more.′ ′Well then—′ cries the gentleman, rising in despair, and pacing the room with rapid strides. ′By G-, this is enough to destroy a man′s intellect, and drive him mad!′

By and by the gentleman comes-to a little, and passing his hand gloomily across his forehead, reseats himself in his former chair. There is a long silence, and this time the lady begins. ′I appealed to Mr. Jenkins, who sat next to me on the sofa in the drawing-room during tea—′ ′Morgan, you mean,′ interrupts the gentleman. ′I do not mean anything of the kind,′ answers the lady. ′Now, by all that is aggravating and impossible to bear,′ cries the gentleman, clenching his hands and looking upwards in agony, ′she is going to insist upon it that Morgan is Jenkins!′ ′Do you take me for a perfect fool?′ exclaims the lady; ′do you suppose I don′t know the one from the other? Do you suppose I don′t know that the man in the blue coat was Mr.

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