That certain missives, letters of a sort,

Flighty and feeble, which assigned themselves

To the wife, no less have fallen, far too oft,

In his path: wherefrom he understood just this—

That were they verily the lady's own,

Why, she who penned them, since he never saw

Save for one minute the mere face of her,

Since never had there been the interchange

Of word with word between them all their life,

Why, she must be the fondest of the frail,