was perfect, nothing need be altered. In those
days, if she had bidden him spend a hundred pounds on reconstruction,
the lover would have obeyed, delighted to hear her express a wish.

Though competence had come to him only after a lifetime of narrow
means, Widdowson felt no temptation to parsimony. Secure in his
all-sufficing income, he grudged no expenditure that could bring
himself or his wife satisfaction. On the wedding-tour in Cornwall,
Devon, and Somerset--it lasted about seven weeks--Monica learnt, among
other things less agreeable, that her husband was generous with money.

He was anxious she should dress well, though only, as Monica soon
discovered, for his own gratification. Soon after they had settled down
at home she equipped herself for the cold season, and Widdowson cared
little about the price so long as the effect of her new costumes was
pleasing to him.

'You are making a butterfly of me,' said Monica merrily, when he
expressed strong approval of a bright morning dress that had just come
home.

'A beautiful woman,' he replied, with the nervous gravity which still
possessed him when complimenting her, or saying tender things, 'a
beautiful woman ought to be beautifully clad.'

At the same time he endeavoured to impress her with the gravest sense
of a married woman's obligations. His raptures, genuine enough, were
sometimes interrupted in the oddest way if Monica chanced to utter a
careless remark of which he could not strictly approve, and such
interruptions frequently became the opportunity for a long and solemn
review of the wifely status. Without much trouble he had brought her
into a daily routine which satisfied him. During the whole of the
morning she was to be absorbed in household cares. In the afternoon he
would take her to walk or drive, and the evening he wished her to spend
either in drawing-room or library, occupied with a book. Monica soon
found that his idea of wedded happiness was that they should always be
together. Most reluctantly he consented to her going any distance
alone, for whatever purpose. Public entertainments he regarded with no
great favour, but when he saw how Monica enjoyed herself at concert or
theatre, he made no objection to indulging her at intervals of a
fortnight or so; his own fondness for music made this compliance
easier. He was jealous of her forming new acquaintances; indifferent to
society himself, he thought his wife should be satisfied with her
present