st possible that this man, who has not in him the power to love you as
a lover, would still be ready to give his life for you.

He would certainly be still ready to give it for his children, _your_
children. Surely that friendship is worth having. Of course, the young
wife, who discovers after only a few years of marriage that the dream of
love has vanished, is to be pitied, supposing that it has not been
through her fault that the dream has had such a short life; but the
woman who for twenty or more years has had a faithful lover-husband is
conceited and ridiculous beyond measure when she does not almost
cheerfully resign herself to the inevitable crisis in matrimony; and if
she has children that she takes in her confidence, and thus estranges
from their father, her vanity is not very far from criminal. At all
events, she deserves the sympathy of no one.

Resign yourself to the inevitable. Let the days of love, happiness, and
devotion count in the final reckoning, and, in turning over a new leaf,
be sure you bring forward devotion, and soon happiness may have to be
added again.

Put on a cheerful face always, and remember that it pays to excite envy,
never to excite pity.

CHAPTER XI

TIT FOR TAT

There is more joy in heaven, we are told, for one sinner who repents
than for a hundred righteous people who keep straight on the narrow ways
of salvation.

And, I should add, there must be more joy in hell for one good man who
goes wrong than for a hundred sinners who persevere in their wicked
ways.

There should be more joy in the heart of a woman for a man who remains
in love with her than for a hundred others whose admiration she may
obtain.

There are some women who may love a man ever so much, and be loved by
him to their hearts' content, who will use all their artillery to bring
down strangers to their feet, but who will make little or no effort to
look their best for the man who loves them and is devoted to them. For
such women their beauty is an altar erected to unknown gods.

Married life would be an everyday bliss and an eternal one if men never
thought of doing to or before their wives what they would never dream of
doing to or before any ladies of their acquaintance, and, of course, if
women did the same; but such is not always, even often, the case. Hence
the trouble.

How many men have taken their wives to a ball, women whose radiant
beauty and brilliant toilettes have caused the admirati