e.

He had noble hopes in many directions, hopes which inspired me to believe
in his truth and goodness, aside from his capabilities for achieving
greatness. His eagle sight, which read through other men's shams and
pretences; his moral sense, which bade him shun even the appearance of
evil, not only permitted, but urged him, seemingly, into this marriage
with Flossy, by which he effectually cut himself off from his dearest
aspirations. One by one I have seen him relinquish them, holding to them
lovingly to the last. The hours at home, which he intended to give to
study and research, have been sacrificed to the petting and nursing of a
perfectly well woman, who demanded it of him. His home life, where he had
dreamed of a congenial atmosphere, where the centripetal force should be
the love of wife and children, merged into frequent journeys for
Flossy--who would have been happy if she never had been obliged to stay in
one place over a week--and a shifting of their one child Rachel into the
care of nurses, because Flossy fretted at the care of her and demanded all
of Bronson's time for herself.

Thus was Bronson's life being twisted and bent from its natural course.
Was it a weakness in him? To be sure he might have shown his strength by
breaking loose from family ties, and, hardening his heart to his wife's
plaints, have carried out his ambitions with some degree of success. He
did attempt this, nor did he fail in his career. He was called a fairly
successful man. I dare say the majority of people never knew that he was
created for grander things. But something was sapping his energy at the
fountain-head. Was he realizing that he had helped to shatter his ideals
with his own hand?

I never am so well satisfied with my lot of single-blessedness as when I
contemplate the sort of wife Flossy makes. That may sound arrogant, but
this is a secret session of human nature, when arrogance and all
native-born sins are permissible.

Flossy is perfectly unconscious of the spectacle she presents to the
world. Ah, me! I know it is said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." I
might have made him just such a wife, I suppose. O heavens! no, I
shouldn't. Tabby, that is making humility go a little too far.

IV

WOMEN AS LOVERS

"In every clime and country
There lives a Man of Pain,
Whose nerves, like chords of li