Had her prosaic spouse addressed her in a rhythmic improvisation,
Mabel could not have been more astounded.
"You are dreaming yet!" she said, kneeling by him and binding his
temples with her cool, firm palms. "When we are divided, it will be
by a dark--not a bright river."
"Until death do us part!" Herbert repeated, thoughtfully. "I wish I
could hear you say, once, that you do not regret that clause of your
marriage vow. I was not your heart's choice, you know, Mabel,
however decided may have been the approval of your friends and of
your judgment. The thought oppresses me as it did not in the first
years of our wedded life."
"I am glad you have spoken of this," began the wife. "I would
disabuse your mind--"
"All in the dark!" exclaimed Mrs. Aylett, at the door. "And what a
stifling odor of chloroform!"
Mabel got up, and drew a heavy travelling-shawl that covered
Herbert's lower limbs over his arms and chest.
"I will open the window!" she said, deprecatingly.
A sluice of cold air rushed in, beating the blaze this way and that,
puffing ashes from the hearth into the room, and eliciting from Mrs.
Aylett what would have been a peevish interjection in another woman.
"My dear sister! the remedy is worse than the offence. Chloroform is
preferable to creosote, or whatever abominable element is the
principal ingredient of smoke and cold! The thermometer must be down
to the freezing-point!"
Mabel lowered the sash.
"You have been sitting in a room without fire, I suspect. The
temperature here is delightful. I am sorry we have exiled you from
such comfortable quarters."
"Don't speak of it! I cannot endure to sit here alone--or anywhere
else. I have slept most of the afternoon. How the wind blows! I wish
Winston were at home."
"It is a dark afternoon. He seldom returns from court so early as
this. It is not six yet."
Mabel still essayed pacification of the other's ruffled mood.
"You are better, I see," Mrs. Aylett said abruptly to her brother.
"You were not subject to these spells formerly. People generally
outlive constitutional headaches--so I have noticed. It is queer
yours should occur so often and wax more violent each time. You
should have medical advice before they ripen into a more serious
disorder."
Herbert shaded his eyes from the fire, and lay with out replying,
until his wife believed he had relapsed into a doze.