and then; but I’m not quite so far gone that I must have it whether or no.  I’m foolish, I will own, to mind her little, pettish, fretful humours.  I ought to be more of a man than I am.  But, I didn’t make myself, and can’t help feeling annoyed, and sometimes angry, when she is unkind and unreasonable.  Going off to a tavern don’t mend the matter, I’ll admit; but, when I leave the house, alone, after nightfall, and in a bad humour, it is the most natural thing in the world for me to seek the pleasant company of some of my old friends—­and I generally know where to find them.”

Such was the state of mind in which Ellis returned home.

A word or two will give the reader a better idea of the relation which Henry Ellis and his wife bore to each other and society.  They had been married about six years, and had three children, the oldest a boy, and the other two girls.  Ellis kept a retail dry-goods store, in a small way.  His capital was limited, and his annual profits, therefore, but light.  The consequence was, that, in all his domestic arrangements, the utmost frugality had to be observed.  He was a man of strict probity, with some ambition to get ahead in the world.  These made him careful and economical in his expenditures, both at home and in the management of his business.  As a man, he was social in his feelings, but inclined to be domestic.  While unmarried, he had lived rather a gay life, and formed a pretty large acquaintance among young men.  His associations led him into the pretty free use of intoxicating drinks; but the thought of becoming a slave of a vicious appetite never once crossed his mind with its warning shadow.

The first trial of Henry Ellis’s married life was the imperative necessity that required him to lay a restraining hand upon his wife’s disposition to spend money more freely than was justified by their circumstances.  He had indulged her for the period of a whole year, and the result was so heavy a balance against his expense account, that he became anxious and troubled.  There must be a change, or his business would be crippled, and ultimate ruin follow.  As gently as he could, Ellis brought the attention of his wife to this matter.  But, she could not comprehend, to its full extent, the point he urged.  It then became necessary for Ellis to hold the purse-strings more tightly than he had formerly done.  This fretted the mind of his wife, and often led her, in the warmth of the moment of disappointment, to utter unkind expressions.  These hurt Ellis; and, sometimes, made him angry.  The cloud upon Cara’s brow, consequent upon these occasional misunderstandings, was generally so unpleasant to Ellis, whose heart was ever wooing the sunshine, let the rays come through almost any medium, that he would spend his evenings abroad.  Temptation, as a natural consequence, was in his way.  His convivial character made him seek the company of those who do not always walk the safest paths.  How anxious should be the wife of such a husband to keep him at home; how light the task would have been for Cara.  Alas! that she was so selfish, so self-willed—­so blind!  The scene that occurred on the evening of Ellis’s return home with the book he wished to read for his wife, will give a fair view of Mrs. Ellis’s manner of reacting upon her husband; and his mode of treating her on such occasions.