Read "Sink or Swim? , Volume III" by Matilda Charlotte Houstoun online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
It was Sunday at the Paddocks, -- Sunday afternoon, -- rather a ponderous / season in the old silent house; and John was, sooth to say, a trifle / tired of his own thoughts, to say nothing of the sight of his / respectable parent poring, spectacles on nose, over the heavy sermon (a / Sabbath duty with her, and a habit which she was far too old to break), / that kept her in a blissful doze through two hours at least of that long / afternoon of rest.
The early dinner was over; and the house being very quiet -- no sound more / startling than the buzz of the flies upon the window-pane breaking the / stillness of the restful time -- John Beacham, who had ensconced himself / in his big arm-chair, feeling dull enough, poor fellow, without Honor, / began to experience not only the influence of the heat but of the / Sabbath beef and pudding; and his eyelids, "drawing straws," as the / saying is, closed gradually over the tranquil scenes before him, and / the deserted husband found himself in the land of dreams.