“No, come in.”

“I want to tell you, my husband isn’t himself.”

“He’s ill?”

“He’s not himself.”

“In what way?”

“It’s a hard thing for a wife to confess. But for a première he’s nearly always in wine.”

“Is he ... much?”

“I never knew him like it!”

Mrs. Sixsmith examined her nails.

“So violent?” she ventured.