My Lady Nicotine | Page 2

Chap. XIV. 123 Headpiece Chap. XV. "House-boat Arcadia" 124 "I
caught my straw hat disappearing on the wings of the wind" 126 "It
was the boy come back with the vegetables" 129 Tailpiece Chap. XV.
"There was a row all round, which resulted in our division into five
parties" 132 Headpiece Chap. XVI. "The Arcadia Mixture again" 133
"On the open window ... stood a round tin of tobacco" 135 "A pipe of
the Mixture" 138 "The lady was making pretty faces with a cigarette in
her mouth" 139 Tailpiece Chap. XVI. 142 Headpiece Chap. XVII. "He
was in love again" 143 "I heard him walking up and down the deck"
145 Tailpiece Chap. XVII. "He took the wire off me and used it to
clean his pipe" 150 Headpiece Chap. XVIII. "I had walked from
Spondinig to Franzenshohe" 151 "On the middle of the plank she had
turned to kiss her hand" 152 "Then she burst into tears" 157 Tailpiece
Chap. XVIII. "A wall has risen up between us" 158 Headpiece Chap.
XIX. "Primus" 159 "Many tall hats struck, to topple in the dust" 161
"Running after sheep, from which ladies were flying" 163 "I should
like to write you a line" 165 Tailpiece Chap. XIX. "I am, respected sir,
your diligent pupil" 167 Headpiece Chap. XX. 168 "Reading Primus's
letters" 171 Tailpiece Chap. XX. 176 Headpiece Chap. XXI.
"English-grown tobacco" 177 "I smoked my third cigar very slowly"
182 Tailpiece Chap. XXI. 185 Headpiece Chap. XXII. "How heroes

smoke" 186 "Once, indeed, we do see Strathmore smoking a good
cigar" 189 "A half-smoked cigar" 190 "The tall, scornful gentleman
who leans lazily against the door" 192 Tailpiece Chap. XXII. 193
Headpiece Chap. XXIII. 194 "The ghost of Christmas eve" 195 "My
pipe" 199 "My brier, which I found beneath my pillow" 200 Tailpiece
Chap. XXIII. 201 Headpiece Chap. XXIV. "But the pipes were old
friends" 202 "It had the paper in its mouth" 205 Tailpiece Chap. XXIV.
"I was pleased that I had lost" 208 Headpiece Chap. XXV. "A face that
haunted Marriot" 209 "There was the French girl at Algiers" 212
Tailpiece Chap. XXV. 215 Headpiece Chap. XXVI. "Arcadians at bay"
216 Pipes and tobacco-jar 220 Tailpiece Chap. XXVI. "Jimmy began as
follows" 222 Headpiece Chap. XXVII. "Jimmy's dream" 223 Pipes 226
"Council for defence calls attention to the prisoner's high and
unblemished character" 229 Tailpiece Chap. XXVII. 230 Headpiece
Chap. XXVIII. 231 "These indefatigable amateurs began to dance a
minuet" 235 A friendly favor 237 Tailpiece Chap. XXVIII. 238
Headpiece Chap. XXIX. "Pettigrew's dream" 239 "He went round the
morning-room" 241 "His wife ... filled his pipe for him" 243 "Mrs.
Pettigrew sent one of the children to the study" 244 Tailpiece Chap.
XXIX. "I awarded the tin of Arcadia to Pettigrew" 246 Headpiece Chap.
XXX. "Sometimes I think it is all a dream" 247 Tailpiece Chap. XXX.
251 Headpiece Chap. XXXI. "They thought I had weakly yielded" 252
"They went one night in a body to Pettigrew's" 254 Tailpiece Chap.
XXXI. 259 Headpiece Chap. XXXII. 260 "Then we began to smoke"
262 "I conjured up the face of a lady" 265 "Not even Scrymgeour knew
what my pouch had been to me" 267 Tailpiece Chap. XXXII. 268
Headpiece Chap. XXXIII. "When my wife is asleep and all the house is
still" 269 "The man through the wall" 272 Pipes 275 Tailpiece Chap.
XXXIII. 276
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[Illustration]

MY LADY NICOTINE.

CHAPTER I.
MATRIMONY AND SMOKING COMPARED.
The circumstances in which I gave up smoking were these:
I was a mere bachelor, drifting toward what I now see to be a tragic
middle age. I had become so accustomed to smoke issuing from my
mouth that I felt incomplete without it; indeed, the time came when I
could refrain from smoking if doing nothing else, but hardly during the
hours of toil. To lay aside my pipe was to find myself soon afterward
wandering restlessly round my table. No blind beggar was ever more
abjectly led by his dog, or more loath to cut the string.
I am much better without tobacco, and already have a difficulty in
sympathizing with the man I used to be. Even to call him up, as it were,
and regard him without prejudice is a difficult task, for we forget the
old selves on whom we have turned our backs, as we forget a street that
has been reconstructed. Does the freed slave always shiver at the crack
of a whip? I fancy not, for I recall but dimly, and without acute
suffering, the horrors of my smoking days. There were nights when I
awoke with a pain at my heart that made me hold my breath. I did not
dare move. After perhaps ten minutes of dread, I would shift