COMMUTER'S WIFE 171 



requires both heredity and greater preparation than 

 most of the learned professions, and to be done well 

 must be the outcome of an older and possibly more 

 degenerate civilization than ours. For here, save 

 in exceptional Newport-like communities, "The Man 

 who Stays at Home " must, as far as male com- 

 panionship goes, suffer the pangs of Robinson 

 Crusoe loneliness, which does not improve his 

 temper. 



But it is pure joy to have Evan for a few precious 

 days all to myself in the den, where I can sit in the 

 window and watch him make his free-hand water- 

 colour plans from the necessary but stiff scale draw- 

 ings, knowing when he is satisfied by the way in 

 which he rumples his hair, and when perplexed by 

 his horseshoe scowl. There is something very 

 interesting to me about an occasional horseshoe 

 scowl, savouring as it does of the wild but satisfac- 

 tory hero of Miss Edwards's " Barbara's History," 

 one of my favourite novels. 



Yesterday morning the weather was gray and 

 threatening. The lowlands were white with frost, 

 and upon trying to uncover the frame to pick Evan's 

 violets, I found the straw mats frozen to the glass ; 



