.." (115); he tries hard to remove the mud from legs and feet of he and his son. Mom won't like the men folk bringing mud into her clean house. She is an "overscrupulous housewife" when it comes to housekeeping, but obviously not too scrupulous when it comes to her morality. Perhaps some guilt creeps into the story as Calixta interrupt her supper preparations by "kissing [Bibi] effusively" and seems to express "nothing but satisfaction" at the return of her husband and son, albeit Bobinot had been rehearsing his excuse for their tardiness in expectation of a harangue. Normally, he would have caught some hell for being late, and being messy. And the laughter all three family members let loose with was "so loud anyone might...

And meanwhile, speaking of deception, Alcee writes to his wife saying, yes I miss you but I can bear being alone for awhile longer in the hope that your "health and pleasure" be foremost in the equation. And as for Alcee's wife, she was apparently enjoying the "first free breath" since her marriage, and was thriving in the "pleasant liberty of her maiden days." What Calixta enjoyed that rainy afternoon was also something "pleasant" that brought back warm, wet memories of her maiden days.