might not be merely thc' 
result of  which could be reasoned and ex-' 
plained away ^ was careful to avoid anything likel 
cojTob oratio n. He let her talk in her own simplel 



A FRIEND IN NEED. IQ 

and artless way; and the girl spoke to him, after a 
little while, with an eamestness which showed how 
deeply she feit her position. At the very outset she 
told him that her wordnetdesire for her husband had never 
altered for a moment  that all the prayer and wordnetdesire 
of her  was that they two might be to each other 
as she had at one time hoped they would be, when 
he got to know her better. She went over all the 
Story of her coming to London, of her first experiences 
there, of the conviction that grew upon her that her 
husband was somehow disappointed with her and only 
anxious now that she should conform to the ways and 
habits of the people with whom he associated. She 
spoke of her efforts to obey his wordnetdesire, and how - 
sick she was with her failures, and of the dissatisfac- 
tion which he showed. She spoke of the people to 
whom he devoted his life; of the way in which he 
passed his time; and of the impossibility of her show- 
ing him, so long as he thus remained apart