"I said that it was natural for me to make plans for myself," Mary answered. She perceived that Jemmie was embarrassed and went on more boldly. "I don't in the least expect you to stay at home because I am in the house. But surely you can have no objection to my occupying myself somehow, and this club would be the very thing."
"I daresay you're right," said the husband. After all, it was politic to give his wife some latitude. "Yes, I daresay you're right. I was a little taken aback for the moment, and I didn't want you to overtire yourself slaving for people who have no gratitude. You know, the more you do for people, the less they give you in return. Did I tell you about Jackson, our head clerk? We raised his salary last month, and yesterday he calmly tells me that he has accepted another place at a larger salary. What do you think of that? That's gratitude! In my opinion the world's going downhill. Now my father's head clerk stayed with him till he died and never had a rise of salary all the time. Didn't want it. Content. But you don't get that type of man nowadays."
Husband and wife rose from their dessert. Husband and wife sat down in the drawing-room. Wife sang "Three Roses" with an obligato of kettle-drums from husband's manipulation of The Times.
Just when the red June Roses blow
She gave me one,—a year ago,
A Rose whose crimson breath revealed
The secret that its heart concealed,
And whose half-shy, half-tender grace
Blushed back upon the giver's face.
To hope was not to know.
Tinkle—tinkle—tinkle—tinkle—tinkle—tinkle!
"Poor little Maudie," thought an infatuated man of forty-five. "Poor little girl, she'll miss me to-night."
Just when the Red June Roses blow
I plucked her one a month ago.
Its half-blown crimson to eclipse,
I laid it on her smiling lips:
The balmy fragrance of the south
Drew sweetness from her sweeter mouth,
Swiftly do golden hours creep,
To hold is not to keep.
Tinkle—tinkle—tinkle—tinkle—tinkle—tinkle!
"I mustn't neglect Maudie," thought a sentimental man of forty-five. "Poor little lonely Maudie! It's a wonderful thing for a man to be loved as she loves me."