and, while he held the
plugger, to have her rap in the gold fillings with the little box-wood
mallet as he had taught her. But that tempest of passion, that
overpowering desire that had suddenly taken possession of him that day
when he had given her ether, again when he had caught her in his arms in
the B Street station, and again and again during the early days of their
married life, rarely stirred him now. On the other hand, he was never
assailed with doubts as to the wisdom of his marriage.

McTeague had relapsed to his wonted stolidity. He never questioned
himself, never looked for motives, never went to the bottom of things.
The year following upon the summer of his marriage was a time of great
contentment for him; after the novelty of the honeymoon had passed he
slipped easily into the new order of things without a question. Thus
his life would be for years to come. Trina was there; he was married and
settled. He accepted the situation. The little animal comforts which for
him constituted the enjoyment of life were ministered to at every
turn, or when they were interfered with--as in the case of his Sunday
afternoon's nap and beer--some agreeable substitute was found. In her
attempts to improve McTeague--to raise him from the stupid animal life
to which he had been accustomed in his bachelor days--Trina was tactful
enough to move so cautiously and with such slowness that the dentist
was unconscious of any process of change. In the matter of the high silk
hat, it seemed to him that the initiative had come from himself.

Gradually the dentist improved under the influence of his little wife.
He no longer went abroad with frayed cuffs about his huge red wrists--or
worse, without any cuffs at all. Trina kept his linen clean and mended,
doing most of his washing herself, and insisting that he should
change his flannels--thick red flannels they were, with enormous bone
buttons--once a week, his linen shirts twice a week, and his collars and
cuffs every second day. She broke him of the habit of eating with his
knife, she caused him to substitute bottled beer in the place of steam
beer, and she induced him to take off his hat to Miss Baker, to Heise's
wife, and to the other women of his acquaintance. McTeague no longer
spent an evening at Frenna's. Instead of this he brought a couple
of bottles of beer up to the rooms and shared it with Trina. In his
"Parlors" he was no longer gruff and indifferent to his female patients;