over"!

PART VI

I

His domestic difficulty left behind, Raymond settled down to a
middle-aged life of dignity and leisure--or attempted to. But the trial
had rather shaken the dignity, and the sole control of Albert ate into
the leisure. There followed, naturally, a period of restlessness and
discontent.

Those who imputed no blame to Raymond still felt it unfortunate, even
calamitous, that he should not have learned how to get on with a young
wife. But there were those that did blame him--blamed him for an
unbending, self-satisfied prig who would have driven almost any spirited
young woman to desperation. These disparaged him; sometimes--not always
covertly--they ridiculed him. That hurt not only his dignity, but his
pride.

Some of you have perhaps been looking for a generalized expression of
general ideas--for some observations on marriage and divorce which
should have the detachable and quotable quality of epigram. Yet suppose
I were to observe, just here, that Marriage makes a promise to the ear
and breaks it to the hope; or that Divorce is the martyr's crown after
the tortures of Incompatibility; or that Marriage is the Inferno, the
Divorce-Court the Purgatory, and Divorce itself the Paradiso of human
life? You would not be likely to think the better of me, and I should
certainly think less well of myself. Though I am conscious of a homespun
quality of thought and diction, I must keep within the limits set me by
nature, eschewing "brilliancy" and continuing to deal not in abstract
considerations but in concrete facts.

Little Albert spent a good part of his time in a condition of
bewilderment; he perceived early that he must not ask questions, that he
must not try to understand. At intervals he ran noisily through the big
house and made it seem emptier than ever. A nurse, or governess, or
attendant of some special qualifications was required--even for the
short time before he should begin his month with his mother, who was
spending some months with her parents in the East. Even the
preliminaries for this small event occasioned considerable thought and
provoked a reluctant correspondence. His mother--prompted probably by
her own mother--wrote on the subject of Albert's summer clothes. She
wished to buy most of them herself. The Eastern climate in summer had
its special points; also local usage in children's costuming must be
considered--in detailed appearance her child must conform measurably to
t