COMMUTER'S WIFE 223 



things it has to offer. It is not well to decry the 

 source of supply. The money to support com- 

 muters' wives is largely made in the city." 



My Familiar Spirit can be exceedingly material 

 and disagreeable at times, so I pretended not to 

 hear, but continued, 



" Of course there is music to be heard there just 

 now, and some paintings I wish to see, and if one 

 does not go to the city once in a time to really visit, 

 not to be a hotel mongrel, one is not able to eat or 

 shake hands in an up-to-date way with the summer 

 people on the bluff, or know what the queer new 

 table utensils are for. Though one doesn't care, at 

 the same time one likes to know." 



"As I said, you wish to go" emphasized the 

 Familiar Spirit in an exasperating way, retiring 

 from the dialogue as if the final word had been 

 spoken. I should have explained, if my Familiar 

 Spirit had given me time, that the only real objec- 

 tion I have to the city is born of the impossibility of 

 living there. As a great fair-ground, a place to 

 visit, it is satisfactory and seldom monotonous, for 

 you are quite sure never twice to find your 

 friends living in the same house or following the 

 same fads. You may be amused, then bored, then 

 have your wits sharpened or your nerves racked; 



