man would not live very long.

My grandmother was greatly pleased when I told her of the arrangement I
had made to assist a devoted wife to support an invalid husband. She
considered it a most worthy and commendable action, and she was rejoiced
that such an opportunity had been afforded me. She would do what she
could to make the poor man comfortable while his wife was at work; and
if he had any sense at all, and knew what was to his advantage, he would
be very careful not to interfere with her duties.

The next morning the couple appeared, and the lady was ensconced in the
anteroom to my study, which I had fitted up for the use of my secretary,
where, through the open window in front of her, she could see her
husband, seated in a rocking-chair, under a wide-spreading apple-tree.
By his side was a table, on which lay the morning paper and some books
which my grandmother had sent out to him. For a time she gave him also
her society, but, as she subsequently informed me, she did not find him
responsive, and soon concluded that he would be happier if left to his
reflections and the literature with which she had provided him.

As an amanuensis I found my new assistant everything that could be
desired. She wrote rapidly and correctly, never asked me to repeat,
showed no nervousness at the delays in my dictation, and was ready to
write the instant I was ready to speak. She was quick and intelligent in
looking up synonyms, and appeared perfectly at home in the dictionary.
But in spite of these admirable qualifications, I did not find myself,
that morning, in a condition favorable to my best literary work.
Whenever my secretary was not actually writing she was looking out of
the window; sometimes she would smile and nod, and on three occasions,
while I was considering, not what I should say next, but whether or not
I could stand this sort of thing, she went gently to the window, and
asked the invalid, in a clear whisper, intended to be entirely
undisturbing, how he was getting on and if he wanted anything.

Two days after this the air was damp and rain threatened, and the
malarial gentleman was supplied with comfortable quarters in the back
parlor. I do not know whether or not he liked this better than sitting
under a tree, but I am sure that the change did not please his wife. She
could not look at him, and she could not ask him how he was getting on
and if he wanted anything. I could see that she was worried and fidgety,