The reform lasted only for a short period and then the husband plunged deeper into gaming than ever, and there were periods of three and four days at a stretch when he would not return home at all.  At such times the lonely wife, who still loved her husband, fell into a perturbed and agitated frame of mind, the worse because she confided her difficulties to no one.  When he would return, shamefaced and repentant, she would reproach him bitterly and this would bring about renewed attention, gifts, etc., for a week or so,—­and then backsliding.  Finally even the brief spasmodic reforms grew less common, her reproaches were answered hotly or listened to with indifference, and she became “practically a widow” except for the occasions when the sexual feeling mastered them both.

The neurosis in this case approached almost an insanity.  The dwelling alone, the desperate obsessive desire for a child to bring back his love and attentions and to satisfy her own maternal instinct, the pain the sight of happy couples with children gave her and which made her shun other women and their company, the fear that her husband was unfaithful (which fear was probably justified), and the lack of any fixed or definite purpose, the lack of a great pride or self-sufficiency, brought on symptoms that necessitated her removal to a sanitarium.

This of course pricked the conscience of her husband.  He visited her frequently, vowed a complete change, promised to bring his business to the point where he would be able to come home at six, etc., etc.  Gradually she improved and finally made a partial recovery.

Whether or not the husband kept his promises I cannot say.  On the chances he did.  Most confirmed gamblers, however, remain gamblers.  The lure of excitement is more potent to such men than a wife whose charm has gone, through familiarity, through time itself, through the inconstancy of passion and love.  The gambler usually knows no duty; he is kind and generous but only to please himself.  He is easily bored and his sympathies rarely stand the disagreeable long; he knows only one constant attraction,—­Chance.

The other woman suffered in much the same way except that she was fortunate enough finally to be deserted by her husband.  This ended her doubts and fears, broke her down for a short while, and then she went back to industry.  In this I have no doubt she found only an incomplete satisfaction for her yearnings and desires, but she had something to take up her time, and built up contacts with others in a way that was impossible in her lonely home.

Case IX.  The will to power through weakness; a case of hysteria in the home.

This case is classic in the outspoken value of the symptoms to the woman.  It is not of course typical, except as the extreme is typical, and that is what is usually meant, Roosevelt, we say, was a typical American, meaning that he represented in extreme development a certain type of man.  So this case shows very clearly what is not so clear at first in many cases of conflict between man and wife.