"Now we will talk of something else."
[CHAPTER XVII.]
Nansie wrote to her uncle before she went to bed, informing him that she was married, and thanking him for the kind letter he had sent her. She said nothing as to the offer of a home, because she did not consider that it held good. Nansie single and Nansie married could not bear the same relation in her uncle's eyes. Single, she needed a protector; married, she possessed one. The responsibility of affairs lay with her husband; all that it was in her power to do was to wait and see what steps he took towards providing for their home. She could encourage and strengthen him, but for the present that was all. To attempt so early to assume the direction of affairs would have been an affront to her husband's manhood, and as, out of loyalty to Kingsley, she purposely avoided the contemplation of this contingency, she had no idea what steps it would be advisable for her to take in the event of Kingsley's failure.
On the following morning she told Kingsley that she had written to her uncle, and asked him if he would like to read the letter before it was posted. Kingsley replied that as she must have written about him he would prefer not to see it.
"I have written everything that is good about you," she said.
"That is the reason," said Kingsley. "My dear, I trust you implicitly, and I am satisfied that you have said exactly what is right--with one exception. You have spoken too highly of your husband. Don't shake your head, I know it. You have an exaggerated opinion of me, or, to phrase it better, you have formed an ideal which will not bear the test of sober truth. But that, dear little wife, is the fate of most ideals."
"What you say," observed Nansie, "will apply with equal truth to your opinion of me."
"Not at all," said Kingsley, with fond seriousness, "you stand away and apart from me--higher, nobler, more capable. I will not listen to any contradiction, my dear, when I am discussing you. The fact is, I have already applied the test."
"In what way, Kingsley?" asked Nansie.
She was learning that it was best to humor him in certain moods, which it seemed impossible for him to avoid.