Year: 1875

me, and being o woman she kept to it
She thought to dragoon me back to tine
quiet of my former life, and made my
private actions personal to herself F; seek
ing to force me into rendering an account
of all my doings, and of every item OF
expenditure, then taking it as an affronl
when | refused to answer questions. But
now there was no hope for it. must
perforce confess. With that writ out
against me it was useless to attempt
concealment, and if marriage is not iemi-
nine superiority, it is partnership.


You may be sure it was bitter mo-
ment for me when had to tell my wife
that all her worst anticipations were real
lied; that she had been right Throughout,
and wrong and that the destruction
she had prophesied had overtaken us. In
her temper of so many months now, it
was doubly hard. But it seems that /
knew as little of women as of men, and
had miscalculated the depth of her good
ness underneath all her wrong-headed-
ness, Just as she had miscalculated my
power of will and truth of love when
fairly pulled up.


She heard me out to the end without
making q sign. There was no Interrupt
ton, no angry expression, no scornful
look. / saw the hand with which she
held the child tighten round his body ;
the one playing with his curls tremble.
But that was all.


When | had finished she looked up
and said quietly: " 1t is better to know
the worst, George for then we can
,naat Nnv fhot 7 lnnup tho .ao,.ot 7
know what TO do"


"And you do not reproach me,
Edith Z" asked.


She rose from her seat and came over
to me. Her eyes were full of tears, her
lips were quivering and yet there was
more love, more softness III her face
through its sorrow than there had been
for all these long, bad, dreary months,
passing now into tears.


She slid the boy from her arms and
pressed them round my neck.


Why should 1 reproach you Z" she
said I" Is not your burden heavy enough
without that 7 While / thought could
help to keep you straight, L tried if
Now | know thet all is over / have only
to try and help you, both by my work
and my love"


Something seemed to choke me while
she spoke. / could have been hard
enough if she had been angry, but this
sudden return to the old love-this un-
expected magnanimity-was too much
for me. Still, am thankful to say did
not break down. / was man enough for
that


"Will you trust me, Edith" said /, in
tone SO rough and husky i scarcely
recognized it as my own. Glove me as
you used, be to me what you were, and
1 swear you shall never have cause to
reproach me again. am young, 1 can
work, can be resolute. have bought
my experience of life, and find the
taste too bitter in my mouth. A man
may be a man, and yet not be ashamed
to think of his wife as well as of his
pleasures, and / will think of you now. E"


She sighed and then she smiled.


You come back TO what you left, "
she SAID in a tender, caressing kind of
way that seemed as if it buried now for.
ever all that had gone wrong be-
tween us.


OF course the struggle was tremen-
dous one. / lost my clerkship and every
sixpence 1 possessed, both in goods and
money. Ny wife had to give lessons,
and had to accept anything that would
keep us from starvation but we pulled
through in time, and the sufferings we
had encountered were, perhaps, a good
thing in the end. 1t taught us to value
each other in a deeper and truer manner
than ever before and it gave us q
friend For dear, old Jacks luck turned
with his uncle's death, and he used his
influence to get me situation that be-
gan at five hundred year, and has steps
upward in the future. Things have gone
well with me since then. Edith's health
has come back, and my boy is at the
head of his class. L have travelled a good
deal, and lately have taken up chem
istry as study. Edith declares / will
blow the house up some day, but have
not done so yet, and think am on the
track of discovery that will do great
deal of good-make me a name, and
bring in q lot of money. / find that as
one grows older work is more satisfy
ing thing than pleasure, and knowledge
goes further than excitement and
Edith finds that wife's influence is
greatest when least visibly exerted, and
| that when a woman abandons the per-
suasion of love for authoritative com
mand, and tenderness for ill-temper, she
loses her power and only deepens the
unhappiness she aims at preventing.



BRAIN-BUILDING FooD.-Dr. Il. s.