Unluckily, when the reaction of marriage sets in, the form of
speech remains, and, the tenderness having died out, hurts the wife more than
she cares to say. But Mrs. Bronckhorst was devoted to her "Teddy," as she
called him.
Perhaps that was why he objected to her. Perhaps--this is only a theory to
account for his infamous behavior later on--he gave way to the queer savage
feeling that sometimes takes by the throat a husband twenty years' married,
when he sees, across the table, the same face of his wedded wife, and knows
that, as he has sat facing it, so must he continue to sit until day of its
death or his own.
Most men and all women know the spasm. It only lasts for three breaths as a
rule, must be a "throw-back" to times when men and women were rather worse than
they are now, and is too unpleasant to be discussed.
Dinner at the Bronckhorst's was an infliction few men cared to undergo.
Bronckhorst took a pleasure in saying things that made his wife wince. When
their little boy came in at dessert, Bronckhorst used to give him half a glass
of wine, and naturally enough, the poor little mite got first riotous, next
miserable, and was removed screaming. Bronckhorst asked if that was the way
Teddy usually behaved, and whether Mrs.
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