"Yes."
He lifted his glass until he felt its touch against his lips and gradually set it down. "Why, Jim, in six years I've loved her so that I've never done anything I wanted to do, gone anywhere I wanted to go, drank anything I've wanted to drink, saw anything I wanted to see, wore anything I wanted to wear, smoked anything I wanted to smoke, read anything I wanted to read, or dined any one I wanted to dine! Jim, it certainly has been a domestic time!"
"Good God! I can't believe it!" ejaculated De Gollyer, too astounded to indulge his sense of humor.
All at once a little fury seemed to seize Lightbody. His voice rose and his gestures became indignant.
"Married! I've been married to a policeman. Why, Jim, do you know what I've spent on myself, really spent? Not two thousand, not one thousand, not five hundred dollars a year. I've been poorer than my own clerk. I'd hate to tell you what I paid for cigars and whisky. Everything went to her, everything! And Jim—" he turned suddenly with a significant glance—"such a temper!"
"A temper? No, impossible, not that!"
"Not violent—oh, no—but firm—smiling, you know, but irresistible."
He drew a long breath charged with bitter memories and said between his teeth, rebelling: "I always agreed."
"Can it be? Is it possible?" commented De Gollyer, carefully mastering his expression.
Lightbody, on the new subject of his wrongs, now began to explode with wrath.