her, be kind to her, give her the appearances of pride and authority,
and in return he had his rights and his privileges and undefined powers
of control. That you know, by the existing rules, is the reality of
marriage where there are no settlements and no private property of the
wife's. That is to say, it is the reality of marriage in ninety-nine
cases out of the hundred. And it would have shocked Sir Isaac extremely,
and as a matter of fact it did shock him, for any one to suggest the
slightest revision of so entirely advantageous an arrangement. He was
confident of his good intentions, and resolved to the best of his
ability to make his wife the happiest of living creatures, subject only
to reasonable acquiescences and general good behaviour.

Never before had he cared for anything so much as he did for her--not
even for the International Bread and Cake Stores. He gloated upon her.
She distracted him from business. He resolved from the outset to
surround her with every luxury and permit her no desire that he had not
already anticipated. Even her mother and Georgina, whom he thought
extremely unnecessary persons, were frequent visitors to his house. His
solicitude for her was so great that she found it difficult even to see
her doctor except in his presence. And he bought her a pearl necklace
that cost six hundred pounds. He was, in fact, one of those complete
husbands who grow rare in these decadent days.

The social circle to which Sir Isaac introduced his wife was not a very
extensive one. The business misadventures of his father had naturally
deprived his mother of most of her friends; he had made only
acquaintances at school, and his subsequent concentration upon business
had permitted very few intimacies. Renewed prosperity had produced a
certain revival of cousins, but Mrs. Harman, established in a pleasant
house at Highbury, had received their attentions with a well-merited
stiffness. His chief associates were his various business allies, and
these and their wives and families formed the nucleus of the new world
to which Ellen was gradually and temperately introduced. There were a
few local callers, but Putney is now too deeply merged with London for
this practice of the countryside to have any great effect upon a
new-comer's visiting circle.

Perhaps Mr. Charterson might claim to be Sir Isaac's chief friend at the
time of that gentleman's marriage. Transactions in sugar had brought
them together originally