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bright, regular teeth. “I am glad to leave London before too many
people come round to our opinion.”
“I wish you’d tell me the secret of your astonishing success,” I
said.
She turned to me with that bland, homely look I knew so well.
“You know, when I married Gilbert and settled in London and
people began to laugh at what I said no one was more surprised than I
was. I’d said the same things for thirty years and no one ever saw
anything to laugh at. I thought it must be my clothes or my bobbed
hair or my eye-glass. Then I discovered it was because I spoke the
truth. It was so unusual that people thought it humorous. One of these
days someone else will discover the secret, and when people
habitually tell the truth of course there’ll be nothing funny in it.”
“And why am I the only person not to think it funny?” asked
Mrs. Tower.
Jane hesitated a little as though she were honestly searching for
a satisfactory explanation.
“Perhaps you don’t know the truth when you see it, Marion
dear,” she answered in her mild good-natured way.
It certainly gave her the last word. I felt that Jane would always
have the last word. She was priceless.

***

Assignments

1. Skimming: Skim the reading to gain a general idea of its form, length,
and content. Give the gist of the story.

2. Scanning:
2.1. Put the following events in the chronological order.
1. Mrs. Tower thought Jane and Gilbert were playing a practical joke
on her.
2. Jane Fowler married a manufacturer from the north.
3. The admiral was to have the Mediterranean Command at Malta.
4. The marriage took place at a registrar’s office.
5. The writer sent Mrs. Tower an occasional picture-postcard but
received no news from her.