s face swollen, she would attack him
with bitter words, as women do. She would upbraid him for his conduct,
she would point at him the finger of scorn, she would tell him in biting
words that he was drinking the produce of her fields, of her
inheritance; she would even impute to him, in her passion, worse things
than these, things that were not true. And the husband was usually
good-natured, and admitted his wrong, and put up with all her abuse, and
they lived more or less happily till the next time.

And after this had been going on for a few years, instead of getting
accustomed to her husband, instead of seeing that if he had this fault
he had many virtues, and that he was just as good a husband as she was a
wife, or perhaps better, her anger against him increased every time,
till now she would declare that she would abide it no longer, that he
was past endurance, and she would have a divorce; and several times she
even ran to the elders to demand it. But the elders would put it by.
'Let it wait,' they said, 'for a few days, and then we will see;' and by
that time all was soothed down again. But at last the end came. One
night she passed all bounds in her anger, using words that could never
be forgiven; and when she declared as usual that she must have a
divorce, her husband said: 'Yes, we will divorce. Let there be an end of
it.' And so next day they went to the elders both of them, and as both
demanded the divorce, the elders could not delay very long. A few days'
delay they made, but the man was firm, and at last it was done. They
were divorced. I think the woman would have drawn back at the last
moment, but she could not, for very shame, and the man never wavered. He
was offended past forgiveness.

So the divorce was given, and the man left the house and went to live
elsewhere.

In a few days--a very few days--the wife sent for him again. 'Would he
return?' And he refused. Then she went to the headman and asked him to
make it up, and the headman sent for the husband, who came.

The woman asked her husband to return.

'Come back,' she said, 'come back. I have been wrong. Let us forgive. It
shall never happen again.'

But the man shook his head.

'No,' he said; 'a divorce is a divorce. I do not care to marry and
divorce once a week. You were always saying "I will divorce you, I will
divorce you." Now it is done. Let it remain.'

The woman was struck with grief.

'But I did not know,' she said; 'I was hot-