"Oh, calm yourself!" replied the husband.
"He is not dead. He has only intimated to me
his desire to sever his connection. I may add
that he did so in a highly offensive manner."

"I am very sorry," said Alice, in a low tone,
and with her eyes on her plate.

"I took it for granted you would be grieved at
his backsliding," remarked Theron, making his
phrases as pointed as he could. "He was such a
promising probationer, and you took such a keen
interest in his spiritual awakening. But the frost
his nipped his zeal, -- along with the hundred or
more dollars' worth of flowers by which he testi-
fied his faith. I find something interesting in their
having been blasted simultaneously."

Alice dropped all pretence of interest in her
breakfast. With a flushed face and lips tightly
compressed, she made a movement as if to rise
from her chair. Then, changing her mind, she
sat bolt upright and faced her husband.

"I think we had better have this out right
now," she said, in a voice which Theron hardly
recognized. "You have been hinting round the
subject long enough, -- too long. There are some
things nobody is obliged to put up with, and this
is one of them. You will oblige me by saying out
in so many words what it is you are driving at."

The outburst astounded Theron. He laid down
his knife and fork, and gazed at his wife in frank
surprise. She had so accustomed him, of late, to

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