really do not blame her for trying, for her husband is a terrible
man. But she was very foolish to think of hanging herself and
leaving the way clear for him to marry some other woman. If I
had been in her shoes, Mrs. Dr. dear, I would have gone to work
to worry him so that he would try to hang himself instead of me.
Not that I hold with people hanging themselves under any
circumstances, Mrs. Dr. dear."

"What is the matter with Harrison Miller, anyway?" said Anne
impatiently. "He is always driving some one to extremes."

"Well, some people call it religion and some call it cussedness,
begging your pardon, Mrs. Dr. dear, for using such a word. It
seems they cannot make out which it is in Harrison's case. There
are days when he growls at everybody because he thinks he is
fore-ordained to eternal punishment. And then there are days
when he says he does not care and goes and gets drunk. My own
opinion is that he is not sound in his intellect, for none of
that branch of the Millers were. His grandfather went out of his
mind. He thought he was surrounded by big black spiders. They
crawled over him and floated in the air about him. I hope I
shall never go insane, Mrs. Dr. dear, and I do not think I will,
because it is not a habit of the Bakers. But, if an all-wise
Providence should decree it, I hope it will not take the form of
big black spiders, for I loathe the animals. As for Mrs. Miller,
I do not know whether she really deserves pity or not. There are
some who say she just married Harrison to spite Richard Taylor,
which seems to me a very peculiar reason for getting married.
But then, of course, _I_ am no judge of things matrimonial, Mrs.
Dr. dear. And there is Cornelia Bryant at the gate, so I will