Sink or Swim? , Volume I by Matilda Charlotte Houstoun

It was now the middle of June, and Honor Beacham was undergoing the / often painful process of "settling down" in her new home. The / observation is no new one, that the presence of a mother-in-law, be she / the parent of either wife or husband, in the _ménage_ of a newly-married / couple is seldom conducive to happiness. Honor, in common with all the / world, had heard the aphorism -- heard it without believing it; for why, / she had often asked herself, should there of necessity be jealousies and / bickerings amongst those who were so near of kin, and whose interests / were identically the same? For her part, although a certain nervous / shyness, rare amongst her country people, made her a little "foolish," / as John called it, when she thought of the possible difficulty of / pleasing his mother, yet, on the whole, she had entertained no doubt of / her success. The experience of her short life had not accustomed her to / failure. As yet, Honor had met with far more smiles than frowns, as she / stepped gaily along the flower-strewn path of life. Why, then, was she / to entertain misgivings of the future? Why suppose that her untiring / efforts to gain love and praise would be likely, in the case of John's / obdurate mother, to be met with nothing better than "snubbings" and / mortification?

"Well, Honey, and how do you and the old lady get on together? " was / John's first question, when, on the evening following their return, and / after an absence of many consecutive hours, he found himself alone with / his young wife.