“Now what?” he feebly echoed.
“Yes. What has that wretched creature come for now?”
“You may well call him a wretched creature,” sighed Sewell.
“Is he really engaged? Has he come to get you to marry him?”
“I think he'd rather have me bury him at present.” Sewell sat down, and, bracing his elbow on his desk, rested his head heavily on his hand.
“Well,” said his wife, with a touch of compassion tempering her curiosity.
He began to tell her what had happened, and he did not spare himself in the statement of the case. “There you have the whole affair now. And a very pretty affair it is. But, I declare,” he concluded, “I can't see that any one is to blame for it.”
“No one, David?”
“Well, Adam, finally, of course. Or Eve. Or the Serpent,” replied the desperate man.
Seeing him at this reckless pass, his wife forebore reproach, and asked, “What are you going to do?”