How are you?"
"Oh! I'm not at all well. Married life is a misery if one has to be
constantly on one's guard."
"Do you think you are the only one?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know what my husband said to me the other day? One ought to
spare the draught cattle! And I suffer under it all, I can tell you.
No, there's no happiness in marriage. Either husband or wife is bound
to suffer. It's one or the other!"
"Or both!"
"But what about the men of science who grow fat at the expense of the
Government?"
"They have to think of so many things, and moreover, it is improper to
write about such problems; they must not be discussed openly."
"But that would be the first necessity!" And the two women fell to
discussing their bitter experiences.
In the following summer they were compelled to remain in town; they
were living in a basement with a view of the gutter, the smell of
which was so objectionable that it was impossible to keep the windows
open.
The wife did needlework in the same room in which the children were
playing; the husband, who had lost his appointment on account of his
extreme shabbiness, was copying a manuscript in the adjoining room,
and grumbling at the children's noise. Hard words were bandied through
the open door.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230