Middletown transcript., 1910-10-03

.
grow upon them until all sense
of proportion was lost, until they
had both become obsessed, few
erishly, morbidly obsessed.
It had begun in the first few
months of.their marriage. Slight
Ely unstrung by the new relations,
she had become nervous, over
sensitive and at times unresson.
ably capricious.
She had wanted to be humored
in many little things, trivial,
foolish things to which she gave
an exaggerated Importance. And
in some way he had become firm.
ly imbued with the idea that to
yield to her in things was 8 lack
of strength, of manhood.
He had felt she was trying to
use his love for her as a means
to subjugate him to petty tyran:
MES, to master him in ways that
were small and humiliating. And
that if he began by yielding, her
desire fer a sense Of power over
him would only increase.
And so the things that he might
so easily have given, he had.
austerely and firmly withheld.
He had thought that by Ihe-very
firmness of his dissent, he might
the more quickly convince her OF
the futility of her demands.
Instead he had ucceeded only
in exciting her to further and
more unreasonable exsctions.
His attitude had on her the effect
Of lashing a high-strung mettIe.
some horse-of increasing, not
correcting, the fault. Fearful
discords followed, painful scenes
in which their very love for each
other gosaed them to more bitter
cruelties.
There were of course moments
of reconciliation, Of tendernessi
Of love, when they were swept
together to the oblivion Of every.
thing else. But those moments
were followed by an intensified
GOODNESS and reticence. Each
seemed to fear that the other
would use those moments, the
memory Of that tenderness, as a
means of mastery, to gain some
point of ascendancy in the conflict
that was always between them.
And so more and more they
grew to fight agaiGst every evi.
dence of their love, as though it
was a weakness to be controlled,
lest IL be taken advantage Of by |
the other.
Oh, it was ghastly-ghastly ! |
AS her mind swept back over ii |
now-all the anguish of it flooded |
her anew. Was any other mar |
riage, e,she wondered, ever wrecked |
in just that wsyf
Tolive together-and yet apart |
had seemed the only solution |
outside of a complete separation. |
To have nothing in common ex-
cept the necessary routine of the
house and a few social duties. |
To give to each other only the
most formal courtesy, in which
no element of personality was
allowed to enter-that had been
the alternative to which they
were finally driven. For over a
year that had been their life.
One of the conditions had been
that there must be no faltcring.
He had anticipated and in advance
'tifed any momentary desire for
reconciliation that might come,
oy showing that it could only lead
q a repetition of their former
Vretchedness. To try again
would be a needless renewal OF q
,ain and would end undoubtedly
n a complete separation.
Lashed on by her pride-only
nee in this long year had she 9
altered. That had been months
go, but even now she could not
hink. of it without a hot flush Of
hame.
They had been to a reception
reception given by the wife Of
member Of his firm, to which
heir presence was almost oblit !
'atory. 1t was snowy night,
utterly cold, and as they drove !
'ack he had tried to envelop her
With wraps. to shield her from
he wind that penetrated the cah
there had been something in his I
learness, in his solicitude, even 7
n the cold formality through !
which there seemed an undercur. +
ent Of tenderness-that had sent
sudden hope thrilling through
Ter. And when she heard him
up and down his room
L /