it is again! But I can tell you."

"I wish to my heart you would, for it's more than I can."

"Take it out of bank, where it lies rusting."

"Humph!"

"What's the matter?"

"How much do you suppose I have in bank tonight?"

"Dear knows! Forty or fifty thousand dollars, I suppose."

"Just seventy-nine dollars and ten cents! And what is more, I have
two thousand dollars to pay to-morrow, five hundred on the day
after, and ten or twelve thousand more to make up within the next
two weeks. If You will tell me where all this money is to come from,
I will build you a dozen houses: as it is, you must build your own
castles--in the air."

A flood of tears answered this bitterly spoken reply. Her tears, the
lady had found, on more occasions than one, to have a powerful
effect upon her husband. It must be said for her, that she did not
believe a word of what Mr. Tompkins had alleged in regard to the
balance of his bank account. For a man who had been in a good
business for a number of years, and had received a legacy of thirty
thousand dollars, to be so near out of cash, was to her mind
preposterous. She knew he had invested nearly twenty thousand
dollars in property, but what of that? Her tears disturbed Mr.
Tompkins, as they always did.

"What I tell you is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth," said he, in a calm, but serious voice, after, the sobs of
his wife had begun to die away. "And now, what would you have me
do?"

"You can do just as you please, Mr. Tompkins. It is nothing to me.
You know your own business best." This was said with an offended
air, in which was something of indifference.

"You are unreasonable, Ellen."

"Very likely I am; at least in your eyes. I believe you never had a
very exalted opinion of your wife's good sense: nor much regard for
her wishes!"

"I believe, Ellen," returned the husband, "that few men regard the
happiness of their wives more than I have regarded the happiness of
mine. Perhaps if I had been less considerate, it might have been
better for all."

"Considerate, indeed! Oh, yes! You're very considerate to buy old
warehouses to rent, in place of a decent dwelling for your family!
Very considerate that--wasn't it?"

At this point of the contest, Mr. Tompkins retired from the field,
his forces reduced and in disorder. He saw but one hope of peace,
and that was by an early surrender, and on the best terms that could
be made. The property that he had pur