76 THE APPETITES. 



ments which he knows have fallen to her lot in that marriage which 

 she dreamed would be all love and happiness; of her patience and 

 long-suffering; of how much and how vainly she has striven to 

 please him and make him happy ; and how, if she has yielded at 

 last to sullenness and vituperation, it has been only under the force 

 of the hardest trials and the strongest provocations. All this he can 

 recall and dwell upon, until his heart grows warm and tender under 

 the magic touch of memory, and he is ready and willing to enter 

 upon a new and better life. 



For her part, occupying that ground of reserve which has been 

 indicated above, the wife may as profitably pursue a similar course 

 of reflection. She may recollect and linger over all those qualities 

 in her husband which attracted her youthful fancy and first kindled 

 in her heart the fires of affection. Looking through the faithful 

 glass of memory, she may see him as she saw him then, when he 

 seemed the realization of all her hopes and the fulfilment of her 

 fondest dreams ; when a life-time union with him seemed to promise 

 a reality to her brightest and sweetest dreams of future bliss; when, 

 young, ardent and aspiring, he was the hero of her idolatry and the 

 god of her fond worship; and when he first wooed and won from 

 her the earliest and sweetest tokens of her maiden love. Thus, 

 softened by these memories, to a mood of kind and gentle indulg- 

 ence, she may recall all his later kindnesses; how faithfully and 

 honorably, by days and nights of toilful assiduity, he has secured 

 her against all the discomforts of penury ; how patiently he has 

 borne with her many perverse and unamiable moods and tempers ; 

 how often her coldness and repulsion have chilled and rolled back 

 the ardent current of his tenderness; how little she has sympathised 

 with his plans and aided him in his endeavors, while his great ob- 

 ject has been to build up for her a royal home, of which she might 

 oe the lovely and honored queen, whose tender and loving despotism 

 should make the music and glory of his life; how, instead of cheer- 

 ing him on in this exalted task, she has discouraged and dismayed 

 him, by her fretful and peevish moods, until he has almost lost 

 heart for that work upon whose successful prosecution the honor and 

 happiness of both their lives. depend; and how, through all, in spite 

 of all and above all, he loves her still, and would fain find in her, if 

 she would let him, all the missing harmonies of his life. Such re- 

 collections will bring back to her eye the brightness, to her cheek the 

 bloom, to her step the lightness, and to her heart the tenderness of 

 the olden time; and ere she is well aware of what has taken place, 

 he will have grown unspeakably dear to her, and she will be ready 

 to welcome and crown him king of the long vacant throne in 

 her heart. 



Between these prepared souls and their true and final wedding, 

 the obstacles which remain will be easily and naturally overcome. 

 They will consist, first, of some painful and bitter memories ; secondly, 

 of some natural doubts and fears; and finally, of that barrier of 



