4
      W. Leslie: Mrs Potter�s household: News
talking and drinking till near 1.
  5.  Sunday.   A lovely, cool, sunny morning.
To Hall�s, finding him abed with his brother.
Waited till he got up, then took a brief stroll to-
gether.        Towards the close of the afternoon went
to Leslie�s, uptown.   Stayed till about 10; he
and his wife and child being much as usual; the
latter outgrowing her baby-hood.   Leslie talked He-
rald about the war and was as loud, as cordial,
as obstinate, as hospitable, as essentially worldly
in all things as ever.       He entertained the Hay-
eses � the old folks � for a week during the spring
or summer, when there was a perfect carnival
of card-playing.     He keeps up some acquaintance
with the Selwyns, at Mrs Potter�s and I had
some news gossip, in consequence, about the folks
there.     Miss Cooper, says Leslie, came out and
embraced him, carried him off to the attic to vi-
sit the two old women, her mother and Miss Stur-
gis, both of whom find it difficult to break them-
selves of �that bad habit of living� they have got
into.      They have their food sent up-stairs.    Ha-
ney occupies an adjoining attic.      On Leslie�s re-
port, Mrs Pot keeps the old portico in a generally
dirty state, charging Miss S. exhobitantly,
possibly by way of recompence for keeping t�other.
Both Miss Cooper and Mrs Potter always say
that their mother is �failing� (as I knew the lat-