Hence the indigestion.
The "grouch" was due partially to the unwonted dissipation and its consequences and partly to the fact that his winter "flannels" had not been returned by Mrs.Melinda Pease, to whom they had been consigned for mending and overhauling.
It was the tenth of November and for a period of twenty-four years, ever since his recovery from a severe attack of rheumatic fever, Caleb had made it a point to lay aside his summer underwear on the morning of November tenth and don a heavy suit.

Weather, cold or warm, was not supposed to have any bearing on this change.

The ninth might be as frigid as a Greenland twilight and the tenth as balmy as a Florida noon--no matter; on the ninth Mr.Hammond wore light underwear and shivered; on the tenth he wore his "flannels" and perspired.

It was another of his principles, and Caleb had a deserved reputation for adhering to principle and being "sot" in his ways.
So, when, on this particular tenth of November, this Sabbath morning, he rose, conscious of the sandwiches and "tonic," and found no suit of flannels ready for him to don, his grouch began to develop.

He opened his chamber door a crack and shouted through the crack.
"Mrs.Barnes," he called.