“Because Mary is busy with other things. Why don’t you dress them? You’ve nothing else to do. Do you consider it degrading to dress your own children?”
He considered the matter for a while, but could see nothing degrading in it. He dressed them.
One day he felt inclined to take his gun and go out by himself, although he never shot anything.
His wife met him on his return.
“Why didn’t you take the children for a walk this morning?” she asked sharply and reproachfully.
“Because I didn’t feel inclined to do so.”
“You didn’t feel inclined? Do you think I want to work all day long in stable and barn? One ought to do something useful during the day, even if it does go against one’s inclination.”
“So as to pay for one’s dinner, you mean?”
“If you like to put it that way! If I were a big man like you, I should be ashamed to be lying all day long on a sofa, doing nothing.”
He really felt ashamed, and henceforth he established himself the children’s nurse. He never failed in his duties. He saw no disgrace in it, yet he was unhappy. Something was wrong, somewhere, he thought, but his wife always managed to carry her point.