Page:Far from the Maddening Girls.djvu/72

 possible. I was a bachelor at last! Everything had turned out exactly as I had planned it. Celibacy lay upon that scene like a caress. Suppose — suppose I had been married!

Married!

I spoke the word half-aloud, and somehow, in these surroundings, it was as incongruous as an icicle in June!

Married!

I put my feet upon the chair which faced me — not that I approve this practice, but simply to show my independence. A married man’s chairs are like the man himself — made only to be sat upon.

Married!

I re-lit my pipe. Should I have had to smoke it out on the front steps had things been otherwise? Ah, there are worse matches than the one I used!

Married!

I switched off all the incandescent bulbs — reflecting that married men are even more