At last there came a day when the husband was of no consequence in his
own house. When numerous female visitors frowned upon and snubbed him.
When his mother-in-law glared at him and entreated him despitefully if
he ventured into her august and fearful presence; and even that
wonderful and mysterious person, the hired nurse, unfeelingly ordered
him out of the house, and bade him "begone about his business." The
miserable and conscience-stricken wretch wandered disconsolately from
room to room, only to meet with fresh humiliation and contumely, and at
last, in sheer despair, betook himself off to a lonely and gloomsome
spot in the dark wood, and there, in penitent humility, bewailed his
misfortune in being that miserably and insignificant nonentity--_a man._
Sorrowfully resting his head upon his hands, his eyes fixed upon the
ground, his whole soul absorbed in self-reproach, he passes the long
hours in gloomy abstraction, wishing, he hardly knew what, only that he
was not, what he unfortunately happened to be at that moment, a man
despised of women and hated by his mother-in-law. His sorrowful musings
were broken in upon by his one faithful friend, the gentle companion of
many a quiet hour, his affectionate and devoted pet, his beloved cat.
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