ising and congenial circumstances. She soon insisted on having
work again, and her busy fingers did much to increase his income.

Alida was not an exacting woman, and recognized from the beginning that
her husband would naturally have peculiar ways of his own. Unlike Mrs.
Mumpson, she never expatiated on "adaptation," but Ostrom soon learned,
with much inward relief, that his wife would accept unquestioningly
what appeared to be his habits and preferences. He went early to his
place of work, taking the nice little lunch which she prepared, and
returned in the dusk of the evening when he always found a warm dinner
in readiness. After this, he was ready enough to walk with her, but,
as before, chose the least frequented streets. Places of amusement and
resort seemed distasteful. On Sundays he enjoyed a ramble in the
country as long as the season permitted, and then showed a great
disinclination to leave the fireside. For a time he went with her in
the evening to church, but gradually persuaded her to remain at home
and read or talk to him.

His wife felt that she had little cause to complain of his quiet ways
and methodical habits. He had exhibited them before marriage and they
were conducive to her absolute sense of proprietorship in him--an
assurance so dear to a woman's heart. The pleasures of his home and
her society appeared to be all that he craved. At times she had
wondered a little at a certain air of apprehensiveness in his manner
when steps were heard upon the stairs, but as the quiet days and weeks
passed, such manifestations of nervousness ceased. Occasionally, he
would start violently and mutter strange words in his sleep, but noting
disturbed the growing sense of security and satisfaction in Alida's
heart. The charm of a regular, quiet life grows upon one who has a
nature fitted for it, and this was true to an unusual degree of Alida
Ostrom. Her content was also increased by the fact that her husband
was able each month to deposit a goodly portion of their united
earnings in a savings bank.

Every day, every week, was so like the preceding ones that it seemed as
if their happy life might go on forever. She was gladly conscious that
there was more than gratitude and good will in her heart. She now
cherished a deep affection for her husband and felt that he had become
essential to her life.

"Oh, how happy mother would be if she knew how safe and protected I
am!" she murmured one March evening