"
"You complain of your father's treatment of you," said Sharlee, "but he
offered you a liberal education there, and you declined to take it."
She glanced at the clock, turned about to the table and picked up her
beautiful bouquet. A pair of long bodkins with lavender glass heads were
waiting, it appeared; she proceeded to pin on her flowers, adjusting
them with careful attention; and rising, again reviewed herself in the
mantel-mirror. Then she sat down once more, and calmly said:
"As you are a failure as an editorial writer and as a man, so you are a
failure as a sociologist ..."
It was the last straw, the crowning blasphemy. She hardly expected him
to endure it, and he did not; she was glad to have it so. But the
extreme mildness with which he interrupted her almost unnerved her, so
confidently had she braced herself for violence.
"Do you mind if we omit that? I think I have heard enough about my
failures for one night."
He had risen, but stood, for a wonder, irresolute. It was too evident
that he did not know what to do next. Presently, having nowhere else to
go, he walked over to the mantel-shelf and leant his elbow upon it,
staring down at the floor.
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