Page:The Adventures of David Simple (1904).djvu/342

 Sacharissa, with whom I conversed as often as I could get liberty, told me that Corinna often asked her how long she thought she should reign thus absolute in her husband's house, if she made an humble, fond wife, and did not continually show him how much he was obliged to her for choosing him? I will relate to you one scene that passed between them, word for word, as Sacharissa told it me. "There was a young gentleman dined with them one day, with whom Corinna was more gay and went further in her coquetry than usual; insomuch that at last her husband grew quite out of humour; she perceived it, but did not at all alter her behaviour on that account. There was a great deal of company at the table, and Corinna was in the highest raptures to see the joy which sparkled in the eyes of the man she took most notice of; the envious, uneasy looks of all the others, and her husband's discontent. This might be called the wantonness of power, and she was resolved to indulge herself in the full enjoyment of it. When the company were gone her husband sat sullen and out of humour, and would not speak one word. It was her usual method, whenever he thought proper to be in this temper, to let him come to himself again as he pleased; for she never said anything to him to endeavour to bring him out of it. I cannot say I much pitied him, as all his uneasiness arose from vanity; but had the greatest tenderness for her been the cause of it, she would have acted just in the same manner; for it was one of her political maxims, that whatever woman troubled her head whether her husband was pleased or no, would find employment enough to keep him in temper; but if she could have so strong a resolution as to hold out, if he either loved her or a quiet life, he would certainly submit in the end; and the difficulty he found in being reconciled to her would make him afraid of offending her.