He did not think how
little he had done to give the unassuming creature that quiet
confidence which a woman ought to gather from the assurance of
her husband's satisfaction in her, and the consciousness of
being, in dress and everything else, pleasing in his eyes,
therefore of occupying the only place in the world she desires to
have. But he did think that Letty's next question might naturally
be, "Why do you not take me with you?" No doubt he could have
answered, no one had ever asked her; but then she might rejoin,
had he ever put it in any one's way to ask her? It might even
occur to her to in-quire whether he had told Mrs. Redmain that he
had a wife! and he had heart enough left to imagine it might
mortally hurt her to find he lived a life so utterly apart from
hers--that she had so little of the relations though all the
rights of wifehood. It was no wonder, therefore, if he was more
than willing to change the subject. He let the poor, imprisoned
hands drop so abruptly that, in their abandonment, they fell
straight from her shoulders to her sides.
"Well, well, child!" he said; "put on your bonnet, and we shall
be in time for the first piece at the Lyceum."
Letty flew, and was ready in five minutes. She could dress the
more quickly that she was delayed by little doubt as to what she
had better wear: she had scarcely a choice. Tom, looking after
his own comforts, left her to look after her necessities; and
she, having a conscience, and not much spirit, went even shabbier
than she yet needed.
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