"What should I have, pray?"
"A woman's, and a man's, and a child's, to be a perfect wife and mother; that is, you must be able to comprehend them all. Your husband came home cross to-night."
"Yes, irritable toward us all, and I so hoped to have everything pleasant this evening."
"He, too, had his hopes to-day, and they were flung to the ground, and broken before his eyes."
"What do you mean?"
"The special agent of a company that he has for a year been working to get, has been in town."
"Yes, I know."
"Yesterday this agent led him to suppose he was to be the favored one. All to-day he has been working toward that end, and near night he heard that this man had gone, without even saying good-by. You remember that Mr. Purblind left home in a hurry this morning, with scarcely a bite of breakfast; he took very little luncheon, and----"
"Well, we had dinner at the usual time, if he'd said he was hungry, I'd have hurried it."
"He was not hungry--he was much more than that. Did you ever see a vessel whose fuel is well-nigh exhausted drag herself into port? What is the first thing to be done?"
"I don't know--replenish her?"
"Yes, put coal on board. Now when I saw your husband walk up to his front door, I said to myself, he needs coaling. A good home should be a good coaling station; remember that."
"But what of me?" she asked with some impatience, "I, too, have my worries and exertions--do I never need coaling?"
"Frequently," I answered.
"Well, who is to coal me, I should like to know?"
"Yourself."
"That's rather one-sided, I think. Why shouldn't my husband look to that?"
"My dear," I said earnestly, "I never knew but one man who saw when his wife needed coaling, and attended to her wants. When he died (for the gods loved him), it was found that his shoulder-blades were abnormally large--at least so the doctors said, but I knew all the time that his wings had budded."
"Well, this life is too much for me," murmured Mrs. Purblind drearily.
"Then don't attempt the next."
"I shan't, if I can help it, and yet I'm like to soon, for Mr. Purblind's mother is coming on a visit to us, and I know she'll worry the breath out of me."