ise that
she wouldn't do it again, and then he let 'er go. I should ha' felt more
comfortable if he 'ad given 'er five years, but, as it turned out, it
didn't matter. Her 'usband happened to read it, and, whether 'e was
tired of living alone, or whether he was excited by 'caring that she 'ad
got a little general shop, 'e went back to her.

The fust I knew about it was they came round to the wharf to see me. He
'ad been a fine-looking chap in 'is day, and even then 'e was enough like
me for me to see 'ow she 'ad made the mistake; and all the time she was
telling me 'ow it 'appened, he was looking me up and down and sniffing.

"'Ave you got a cold?" I ses, at last.

"Wot's that got to do with you?" he ses. "Wot do you mean by walking out
with my wife? That's what I've come to talk about."

For a moment I thought that his bad luck 'ad turned 'is brain. "You've
got it wrong," I ses, as soon as I could speak. "She walked out with
me."

"Cos she thought you was her 'usband," he ses, "but you didn't think you
was me, did you?"

"'Course I didn't," I ses.

"Then 'ow dare you walk out with 'er?" he ses.

"Look 'ere!" I ses. "You get off 'ome as quick as you like. I've 'ad
about enough of your family. Go on, hook it."

Afore I could put my 'ands up he 'it me hard in the mouth, and the next
moment we was at it as 'ard as we could go. Nearly every time I hit 'im
he wasn't there, and every time 'e hit me I wished I hadn't ha' been.
When I said I had 'ad enough, 'e contradicted me and kept on, but he got
tired of it at last, and, arter telling me wot he would do if I ever
walked 'is wife out agin, they went off like a couple o' love-birds.

By the time I got 'ome next morning my eyes was so swelled up I could
'ardly see, and my nose wouldn't let me touch it. I was so done up I
could 'ardly speak, but I managed to tell my missus about it arter I had
'ad a cup o' tea. Judging by her face anybody might ha' thought I was
telling 'er something funny, and, when I 'ad finished, she looks up at
the ceiling and ses:

"I 'ope it'll be a lesson to you," she ses.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Husbandry, by W.W. Jacobs

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