"You can't stand the other."
"Come! The rest cure idea is exploded. The thing to do nowadays is to vary your pursuits, employ different sets of nerve centres!" Isabelle quoted the famous Potts with a mocking smile. "You should see how I vary my activities,—I use a different group of cells every half hour. You don't know how well I look after the family, too. I don't neglect my job. Aren't you comfortable here? Mary cooks very well, I think."
"Oh, Mary is all right…. You may shift the batteries, Belle, but you are burning up the wires, all the same."
"Let 'em burn, then,—I've got to live! … You see, Vickie, I am not the little girl you remember. I've grown up! When I was down after Marian came, I did such a lot of thinking…. I was simple when I married, Vick. I thought John and I would spoon out the days,—at least read together and be great chums. But it didn't turn out that way; you can't live that sort of life these days, and it would be stupid. Each one has to develop his talent, you see, and then combine the gifts. John thinks and breathes the railroad. And when he's off duty, he wants to exercise or go to the theatre and see some fool show. That's natural, too,—he works hard. But I can't do his things,—so I do my things. He doesn't care…. To tell the truth, Vick, I suspect John wouldn't miss me before the month's bills were due, if I should elope to-night!"
"I am not so sure, Belle."
"Of course—don't I know? That must be the case with most marriages, and it's a good thing, perhaps."
Vickers suggested softly, "The Colonel's way was good, too."
"Women didn't expect much those days. They do now. Even the architects recognize the change in our habits."
"I don't believe the architects have made any changes for Alice."
"Oh, Alice!" Isabelle pished. "She is just a mother."