‘Business first!’ said Maude primly, and so proceeded to save her sixpence on the gloves.  As she was tempted, however (’such a civil obliging shopman, Frank!’), to buy four yards of so-called Astrakhan trimming, a frill of torchon lace, six dear little festooned handkerchiefs, and four pairs of open-work stockings—­none of which were contemplated when she entered the shop—­her sixpenny saving was not as brilliant a piece of finance as she imagined.

And then they finished their excursion in the dark, wainscotted, low-ceilinged coffee-room of an old-fashioned inn, once the mother of many coaches, and now barren and deserted, but with a strange cunning in the matter of buttered toast which had come down from more prosperous days.  It was a new waiter who served them, and he imagined them to be lovers and scented an intrigue; but when they called for a second plate of toast and a jug of boiling water, he recognised the healthy appetite of the married.  And then, instead of going home like a good little couple, Maude suddenly got it into her head that it would cheer away the last traces of Frank’s gloom if they went to see ‘Charley’s Aunt’ at the Globe.  So they loitered and shopped for a couple of hours, and then squeezed into the back of the pit; and wedged in among honest, hearty folk who were not ashamed to show their emotions, they laughed until they were tired.  And so home, as their friend Pepys would have said, after such a day as comes into the memory, shining golden among the drab, when old folk look back, and think of the dear dead past.  May you and I, reader, if ever we also come to sit in our final armchairs in the chimney corners, have many such to which our minds may turn, sweet and innocent and fragrant, to cheer us in those darksome hours to come.

CHAPTER XIV—­TROUBLE

One evening Frank came home with a clouded face.  His wife said nothing, but after dinner she sat on a footstool beside his chair and waited.  She knew that if it were for the best, he would tell her everything, and she had confidence enough in his judgment to acquiesce in his silence if he thought it best to be silent.  As a matter of fact, it was just this telling her which made his trouble hard to bear.  And yet he thought it wiser to tell.

‘I’ve had something to worry me, dear.’

‘Poor old boy, I know you have.  What was it?’

‘Why should I bother you with it?’

’A nice wife I should be, if I shared all your joys and none of your sorrows!  Anyhow, I had rather share sorrow with you than joy within any one else.’  She snuggled her head up against his knee.  ’Tell me about it, Frank.’

’You remember my telling you just before our marriage that I was surety for a man?’

‘I remember perfectly well.’

’His name was Farintosh.  He was an insurance-agent, and I became surety for him in order to save his situation.’