a small morsel of flesh? He
entered the battle under the neutral and not over-colorful pennon of
Albert: his mother could thus call him "Bertie," and think, not too
remotely, of her parent on the stock exchange.

Raymond was not long in discovering, after reaching home, what
sacrifices the new life was to involve. On the Continent, in the midst
of change and stir, these had not foretold themselves. Back in his own
house, his interests--"intellectual interests" he called them--began to
assert themselves in the old way. But he was no longer free to range the
fields of the mind and take shots at the arts as they rose. Least of all
was he to read in the evening. That was to neglect, to affront. However,
the arrival of little Albert--poor tad!--changed the current of his
wife's own interests and helped to place one more rather vital matter
in abeyance. He was to live--for a while, anyway--in his present home;
and he was to pursue--for a while, anyway--some of the accustomed
interests of his bachelor days. He expected that, before long, his wife
would accept his environment and the practices he had always followed
within it. She needed enlightenment on many points. He had already
communicated some of his views on dress, for example; and he had
readjusted her notions on the preparation of salads. He gave her, pretty
constantly, corrective glances through, or over, his eyeglasses,--for
his sight had begun to weaken early, as his father had foreseen,--and he
meant that such glances should count. She required to be edited; well,
the new manuscript was worth his pains, and would be highly creditable
in its revised version.

VI

If one advantage showed forth from a situation that seemed, in general,
not altogether promising, it was this: Raymond, hearing his native town
commented upon unfavorably by his wife,--who was keen and constant in
her criticisms,--began to defend it. It was one thing for the
native-born to pick flaws; it was another when that ungracious work was
attempted by a newcomer. And he meant not only to defend it, but to
remain in it, though his wife had married him partly on the strength of
his European predilections, and largely on the assumption that a good
part of their married life would be spent abroad. He even began to
wonder if he might not join in and help improve things. Like most of his
fellow-townsmen, he regarded the city's participation in the late
national festival as a great step in advance,--th