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Christmas At Thompson Hall

N.Y., Harper, 1877. Originally published in The Graphic, Christmas number, 1876. Later collected in Why Frau Frohmann Raised Her Prices and Other Stories, 1882. An English edition with the title: Thompson Hall, was published by Sampson Low, 1885.

Mrs. Brown, journeying with her husband from the south of France to her old home in England for the Christmas holidays, spent the night in Paris where Mr. Brown developed a sore throat. Thinking to make a mustard poultice from a pot of mustard she had seen in the salon, Mrs. Brown lost her way on her return and, entering the wrong room, discovered after the poultice had been applied that the patient was not her husband. Traced next morning by the handkerchief she had used, her husband made as satisfactory an explanation as was possible to the aggrieved and blistered Mr. Jones During the remainder of their journey the Browns found themselves accompanied by this same gentleman, whom on their arrival they discovered to be the intended husband of Mrs. Brown’s sister Jane, who had been invited there to meet them.