“You are in love with your social work and your whining beggars, not with me. You are getting farther and farther away from me. You leave me alone; I come back to a neglected home.”
“Why, Mollie and mother look after it beautifully,” said Clare very cheerfully.
Herbert gave expression to his grievances.
“I come home and ask, ‘Where is Clare?’ and get the eternal answer, ‘Clare is out.’ I am an abandoned husband, and by Heaven I won’t stand it. I will——”
“What, Herbert?” said Clare, smiling up at him. “Don’t do anything rash, old boy.”
“I—have a good mind to make love to somebody else’s wife. But they’re all so beastly ugly!”
“Perhaps somebody else’s wife won’t respond,” said Clare. “Some women are very cold.”
“I’ll take to drink. I have already given mother full warning.”
“I am sure it will disagree with you, dear,” said Clare.
“You scoff at me,” said Herbert passionately. “I think we had better live apart.”