"I haven't much taste, I know," said Amanda, "but such as it is, it
is pleasant to gratify it sometimes."

Something in the way this remark was made it disturbed the
self-satisfaction which was a leading feature in Mr. Lane's state of
mind; he, however, answered--"I wish you would be governed by me in
matters of this kind; you know my taste is superior to yours. Do
take off that dress, and throw it in the fire."

Amanda did not reply to this, for it excited feelings and produced
thoughts that she had no wish to manifest. But she did not comply
with her husband's wishes. She liked the dress and meant to wear it,
and she did wear it, notwithstanding her husband's repeated
condemnation of her taste.

At this time they had one child--a babe less than a year old. From
the first, Lane had encroached upon the mother's province. This had
been felt more sensibly than any thing else by his wife, for it
disturbed the harmonious activity of the natural law which gives to
a mother the perception of what is best for her infant. Still, she
had been so in the habit of yielding to the force of his will, that
she gave way to his interference here in numberless instances,
though she as often felt that he was wrong as right. Conceit of his
own intelligence blinded him to the intelligence of others. Of this
Amanda became more and more satisfied every day. At first, she had
passively admitted that he knew best; but her own common sense and
clear perceptions soon repudiated this idea. While his love of
predominance affected only herself, she could bear it with great
patience; but when it was exercised, day after day, and week after
week, in matters pertaining to her babe, she grew restless under the