possible, determined to right himself this very
evening.

Mrs. Jordan sat alone. He marched into the room with muddy boots, flung
his hat and overcoat into a chair, and poked the fire violently. His
wife's eye was fixed on him, and she first spoke--in the quiet voice
that he dreaded.

'What do you mean by carrying on like this, Archibald?'

'I shall carry on as I like in my own house--hear that?'

'I do hear it, and I'm very sorry too. It gives me a very bad opinion
of you. You will _not_ do as you like in your own house. Rage as you
please. You will _not_ do as you like in your own house.'

There was a contemptuous anger in her eye which the man could not face.
He lost all control of himself, uttered coarse oaths, and stood
quivering. Then the woman began to lecture him; she talked steadily,
acrimoniously, for more than an hour, regardless of his interruptions.
Nervously exhausted, he fled at length from the room. A couple of hours
later they met again in the nuptial chamber, and again Mrs. Jordan began
to talk. Her point, as before, was that he had begun married life about
as badly as possible. Why had he married her at all? What fault had she
committed to incur such outrageous usage? But, thank goodness, she had a
will of her own, and a proper self-respect; behave as he might, _she_
would still persevere in the path of womanly duty. If he thought to make
her life unbearable he would find his mistake; she simply should not
heed him; perhaps he would return to his senses before long--and in this
vein Mrs. Jordan continued until night was at odds with morning, only
becoming silent when her partner had sunk into the oblivion of uttermost
fatigue.

The next day Mr. Jordan's demeanour showed him, for the moment at all
events, defeated. He made no attempt to read at breakfast; he moved
about very quietly. And in the afternoon he came home at the regulation
hour.

Mrs. Jordan had friends in the neighbourhood, but she saw little of
them. She was not a woman of ordinary tastes. Everything proved that,
to her mind, the possession of a nice house, with the prospects of a
comfortable life, was an end in itself; she had no desire to exhibit her
well-furnished rooms, or to gad about talking of her advantages. Every
moment of her day was taken up in the superintendence of servants, the
discharge of an infinitude of housewifely tasks. She had no assistance
from her daughter; the girl went to school, and was encouraged to stud