One morning she appeared at the breakfast table, slightly intoxicated.
The husband ventured to tell her that her behaviour was unseemly.
She had hysterics and went to bed, and all the other ladies in the
house called on her and brought her flowers.
"Why do you drink so much whisky?" asked her husband, as kindly as
possible. "Is there anything which troubles you?"
"How could I be happy when my whole life is wasted!"
"What do you mean by wasted? You are the mother of three children and
you might spend your time in educating them."
"I can't be bothered with children."
"Then you ought to be bothered with them! You would be benefiting the
whole community and have a splendid object in life, a far more
honourable one, for instance, than that of being a wharfinger."
"Yes, if I were free!"
"You are freer than I am. I am under your rule. You decide how my
earnings are to be spent. You have five hundred dollars pin money to
spend as you like; but I have no pin money. I have to make an
application to the cash-box, in other words, to you, whenever I want
to buy tobacco. Don't you think that you are freer than I am?"
She made no reply; she tried to think the question out.
The upshot of it was that they decided to have a home of their own.
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