It's 1916, over a hundred years ago. But there are constants to human behavior, and one of them surely is the need to avoid dull houseguests. Note the helpful arrow pointing to "below," in case the reader was too stupid to figure it out. s

 

 

Slang used: "a bone" for a dull person. The husband's posture is straight out of a textbook: how to draw people who are angry and frustrated.