in the aid of a servant to guard the conduct of his wife!

As he thought of it all it seemed to him that if she would not obey
him, and give him this promise, they must be separated. He would
not live with her, he would not give her the privileges of his
wife, if she refused to render to him the obedience which was his
privilege. The more he thought of it, the more convinced he was
that he ought not to yield to her. Let her once yield to him, and
then his tenderness should begin, and there should be no limit to
it. But he would not see her till she had yielded. He would not see
her; and if he should find that she did see Colonel Osborne, then
he would tell her that she could no longer dwell under the same
roof with him.

His resolution on these points was very strong, and yet there came
over him a feeling that it was his duty to be gentle. There was a
feeling also that that privilege of receiving obedience, which was
so indubitably his own, could only be maintained by certain wise
practices on his part in which gentleness must predominate. Wives
are bound to obey their husbands, but obedience cannot be exacted
from wives, as it may from servants, by aid of law and with penalties,
or as from a horse, by punishments, and manger curtailments. A man
should be master in his own house, but he should make his mastery
palatable, equitable, smooth, soft to the touch, a thing almost
unfelt. How was he to do all this now, when he had already given
an order to which obedience had been refused unless under certain
stipulations an agreement with which would be degradation to him?
He had pointed out to his wife her duty, and she had said she
would do her duty as pointed out, on condition that he would beg
her pardon for having pointed it out! This he could not and would