speak, she'd tell me how she's been cheated. Poor thing! I know
where the money's gone to that I left for her milk--I know. Why,
what have you got there, Mr. Caudle? A book? What!

"IF YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO SLEEP, YOU'LL READ?

"Well, now it is come to something! If that isn't insulting a wife
to bring a book to bed, I don't know what wedlock is. But you
sha'n't read, Caudle; no, you sha'n't; not while I've strength to get
up and put out a candle.

"And that's like your feelings! You can think a great deal of
trumpery books; yes, you can't think too much of the stuff that's put
into print; but for what's real and true about you, why, you've the
heart of a stone. I should like to know what that book's about.
What!

"MILTON'S 'PARADISE LOST'?

"I thought some rubbish of the sort--something to insult me. A nice
book, I think, to read in bed; and a very respectable person he was
who wrote it.

"WHAT DO I KNOW OF HIM?

"Much more than you think. A very pretty fellow, indeed, with his
six wives. What?

"HE HADN'T SIX--HE'D ONLY THREE?