The very difference in their characters produced a harmonious
combination; he was of a romantic, and somewhat serious cast; she
was all life and gladness. I have often noticed the mute rapture
with which he would gaze upon her in company, of which her
sprightly powers made her the delight: and how, in the midst of
applause, her eye would still turn to him, as if there alone she
sought favor and acceptance. When leaning on his arm, her slender
form contrasted finely with his tall, manly person. The fond,
confiding air with which she looked up to him seemed to call
forth a flush of triumphant pride and cherishing tenderness, as
if he doated on his lovely burden from its very helplessness.
Never did a couple set forward on the flowery path of early and
well-suited marriage with a fairer prospect of felicity.

It was the misfortune of my friend, however, to have embarked his
property in large speculations; and he had not been married many
months, when, by a succession of sudden disasters, it was swept
from him, and he found himself reduced to almost penury. For a
time he kept his situation to himself, and went about with a
haggard countenance, and a breaking heart. His life was but a
protracted agony; and what rendered it more insupportable was the
necessity of keeping up a smile in the presence of his wife; for
he could not bring himself to overwhelm her with the news. She
saw, however, with the quick eyes of affection, that all was not
well with him. She marked his altered looks and stifled sighs,
and was not to be deceived by his sickly and vapid attempts at
cheerfulness. She tasked all her sprightly powers and tender
blandishments to win him back to happiness; but she only drove
the arrow deeper into his soul. The more he saw cause to love