He waited on her as if she were still his fiancee. What a breakfast
they were having on the first morning after their wedding! And nobody
had a right to say a word. Everything was perfectly right and proper,
one could enjoy oneself with the very best of consciences, and that
was the most delightful part of it all. It was not for the first time
that he was eating such a breakfast, but what a difference between
then and now! He had been restless and dissatisfied then; he could not
bear to think of it, now. And as he drank a glass of genuine Swedish
porter after the oysters, he felt the deepest contempt for all
bachelors.

"How stupid of people not to get married! Such selfishness! They ought
to be taxed like dogs."

"I'm sorry for those poor men who haven't the means to get married,"
replied his demure little wife kindly, "for I am sure, if they had the
means they would all get married."

A little pang shot through the assistant's heart; for a moment he felt
afraid, lest he had been a little too venturesome. All his happiness
rested on the solution of a financial problem, and if, if.... Pooh! A
glass of Burgundy! Now he would work! They should see!

"Game? With cranberries and cucumbers!" The young wife was a little
startled, but it was really delicious.

"Lewis, darling," she put a trembling little hand on his arm, "can we
afford it?"

Fortunately she said "we."