le. When the
baby was brought I tried to amuse him with that; but poor little Arthur
was cutting his teeth, and his father could not bear his complaints:
sentence of immediate banishment was passed upon him on the first
indication of fretfulness; and because, in the course of the evening, I
went to share his exile for a little while, I was reproached, on my
return, for preferring my child to my husband. I found the latter
reclining on the sofa just as I had left him.

'Well!' exclaimed the injured man, in a tone of pseudo-resignation. 'I
thought I wouldn't send for you; I thought I'd just see how long it would
please you to leave me alone.'

'I have not been very long, have I, Arthur? I have not been an hour, I'm
sure.'

'Oh, of course, an hour is nothing to you, so pleasantly employed; but to
me--'

'It has not been pleasantly employed,' interrupted I. 'I have been
nursing our poor little baby, who is very far from well, and I could not
leave him till I got him to sleep.'

'Oh, to be sure, you're overflowing with kindness and pity for everything
but me.'

'And why should I pity you? What is the matter with you?'

'Well! that passes everything! After all the wear and tear that I've
had, when I come home sick and weary, longing for comfort, and expecting
to find attention and kindness, at least from my wife, she calmly asks
what is the matter with me!'

'There is nothing the matter with you,' returned I, 'except what you have
wilfully brought upon yourself, against my earnest exhortation and
entreaty.'

'Now, Helen,' said he emphatically, half rising from his recumbent
posture, 'if you bother me with another word, I'll ring the bell and
order six bottles of wine, and, by heaven, I'll drink them dry before I
stir from this place!'

I said no more, but sat down before the table and drew a book towards me.

'Do let me have quietness at least!' continued he, 'if you deny me every
other comfort;' and sinking back into his former position, with an
impatient expiration between a sigh and a groan, he languidly closed his
eyes, as if to sleep.

What the book was that lay open on the table before me, I cannot tell,
for I never looked at it. With an elbow on each side of it, and my hands
clasped before my eyes, I delivered myself up to silent weeping. But
Arthur was not asleep: at the first slight sob, he raised his head and
looked round, impatiently exclaiming, 'What are you crying for, Helen?
What the de