Page:The Adventures of David Simple (1904).djvu/88

 father was a very good man but, unfortunately for me, died soon after we were married; for he would have been kind to me if he had lived. He had more children, and was not very rich, so that he could not leave us a great deal: however, he left me £30 per annum in an annuity; and to his son £500, which he soon spent, and made me sell my annuity: I have never refused him anything since we have been married. You see, sir, by the manner we live, money is not very plenty with us, though I do my household affairs myself, take care of my poor children, and am glad to do plain work besides, when I can get it; that, by all means possible, I may help to support the man, whom yet I love with the greatest fondness, notwithstanding you see he doth not treat me with an equal tenderness. "He has a brother, who allows him a small matter, so that we make shift to rub on with bread, and I could be content with my lot, if he behaved to me as when we were first married; what has occasioned this alteration I cannot imagine, for I don't find he converses with any other women, and I have always been a very humble wife; I have humoured him in everything he has desired: I have never upbraided him with the misery I have suffered for his sake, nor refused him any of the little money I got. I remember once, when I had but just enough to buy a dinner for the day, and had been hard at work, he had a mind to go out, where he thought he should be merry: I let him have this little, and concealed from him that I had no more; thinking it impossible for him to take it, if he had known the truth. I ate nothing but bread that day. When he came home at night, I received him with great good humour; but had a faintness upon me, which prevented my being cheerful, which he immediately imputed to the badness of my temper. He swore there was no hving with women, for they had such vile humours