There was no way left for him, however, but to make the best of his circumstances, and put a brave face upon the matter.  Accordingly, the next morning after his arrival, he told, with such display of enthusiasm as he could assume, the story of his purchase.  The children were all attention, and made no hesitation to express their delight with the change that lay before them.  Mrs. Belcher grew pale, choked over her breakfast, and was obliged to leave the table.  At the close of the meal, Mr. Belcher followed her to her room, and found her with dry eyes and an angry face.

“Robert, you have determined to kill me,” she said, almost fiercely.

“Oh, no, Sarah; not quite so bad as that.”

“How could you take a step which you knew would give me a life-long pain?  Have I not suffered enough?  Is it not enough that I have ceased practically to have a husband?—­that I have given up all society, and been driven in upon my children?  Am I to have no will, no consideration, no part or lot in my own life?”

“Put it through, Sarah; you have the floor, and I’m ready to take it all now.”

“And it is all for show,” she went on, “and is disgusting.  There is not a soul in the city that your wealth can bring to me that will give me society.  I shall be a thousand times lonelier there than I have been here; and you compel me to go where I must receive people whom I shall despise, and who, for that reason, will dislike me.  You propose to force me into a life that is worse than emptiness.  I am more nearly content here than I can ever be anywhere else, and I shall never leave here without a cruel sense of sacrifice.”

“Good for you, Sarah!” said Mr. Belcher.  “You’re more of a trump than I thought you were; and if it will do you any good to know that I think I’ve been a little rough with you, I don’t mind telling you so.  But the thing is done, and it can’t be undone.  You can have your own sort of life there as you do here, and I can have mine.  I suppose I could go there and run the house alone; but it isn’t exactly the thing for Mrs. Belcher’s husband to do.  People might talk, you know, and they wouldn’t blame me.”

“No; they would blame me, and I must go, whether I wish to go or not.”

Mrs. Belcher had talked until she could weep, and brushing her eyes she walked to the window.  Mr. Belcher sat still, casting furtive glances at her, and drumming with his fingers on his knees.  When she could sufficiently command herself, she returned, and said: 

“Robert, I have tried to be a good wife to you.  I helped you in your first struggles, and then you were a comfort to me.  But your wealth has changed you, and you know that for ten years I have had no husband.  I have humored your caprices; I have been careful not to cross your will.  I have taken your generous provision, and made myself and my children what you desired; but I am no more to you than a part of your establishment.  I do not feel that my position is an honorable one.  I wish to God that I had one hope that it would ever become so.”