ity given by him for the dower he was to
bestow upon her.

If the good merchant had taken pride and pleasure in his merchandise
during the time that he was amassing a fortune, he felt still more when
he saw himself certain of being married, and that to a wife by whom he
could have fine children.

The wedding was honourably celebrated, with all due pomp, and that feast
being over and finished, he forgot all about his former life,--that is
to say on the sea--but lived happily and in great pleasure with his fair
and fond wife.

But this way of life did not last long, for he soon became tired and
bored, and before the first year had expired took a dislike to living at
home in idleness and a humdrum domestic existence, and pined for his
old business of merchant-mariner, which seemed to him easier and more
pleasant than that which he had so willingly undertaken to manage night
and day.

He did nothing but devise how he could get to Alexandria, as he used in
the old days, and it seemed to him that it was not only difficult but
impossible for him to abstain from going to sea. Yet though he firmly
resolved to return to his old profession, he concealed his intention
from his wife, fearing that she might be displeased.

There were also fears and doubts which disturbed him, and prevented him
from executing his designs, for he knew the youth and character of his
wife, and he felt sure that if he were absent she would not be able to
control herself; and he considered also the mutability and variability
of the feminine character, and that the young gallants were accustomed
to pass in front of his house to see his wife, even when he was at
home,--whence he imagined that in his absence they might come closer,
and peradventure even take his place.

For a long time he was tormented by these difficulties and suspicions
without saying a word but as he knew that he had lived the best part of
his life, he now cared little for wife, marriage, and all that concerned
domestic life, and to the arguments and theories which filled his head,
provided a speedy solution by saying;--

"It is better to live than to die, and, if I do not quit my household
very shortly, it is very certain that I shall not live. But then, shall
I leave my fair and affectionate wife? Yes, I will leave her;--she
shall henceforth manage for herself as she pleases; it will no longer
be incumbent on me. Alas, what shall I do? What a dishonour, what
an annoyance it woul