Alice Duer Miller and Henry Wise Miller

“ Waters's next remark was: "It's high time you had something to eat; you look tired."
Every woman knows that the difference between Mr. Waters's last remark and being told she looks plain is a difference not of fact but of courteous intent.
He touched the bell, and his man and the porter appeared, carrying a hamper between them. It was impossible that even Mrs. Waters's languid interest in life should not revive at the ingenious complexity of its internal arrangement. ”

“ He was wondering why it had been ordained that before entering the holy state of matrimony a man should be deprived of sleep by the necessity of entertaining his intemperate and riotous friends.
It was beginning to rain. Mrs. Waters thought that there had never been a flatter or more uninteresting country than that through which they were passing. She turned sharply from the window and looked at her husband expectantly. ”

“ A moment later the porter closed the door of the compartment, and they were alone.
"I have a letter from your mother," said Mr. Waters, drawing it from his waistcoat pocket. "She says, strangely enough, that a honeymoon generally serves to show two people whether it is possible they can see too much of each other, or whether, under ideal conditions, they can really be happy together. At least, Edna, we have avoided the former danger. ”

“ But the period during which this knowledge is being turned into the practical coinage of everyday life, while the inspiration of sentiment is becoming the habit of intimacy, is a time indeed fraught with danger. And, as we were saying, it is the man who finds it the most dangerous. The pitfalls for his feet are legion. In the first place, the public nature of the institution of matrimony forces him to acquire a manner for the public. ”

“ That mortal man could be no dense staggered her intellect almost as much as it bruised her affection, but showed her that unless her own magnanimity should intervene nothing could now save the situation. ”

“ Waters, cordially adopting a thought so thoroughly in harmony with his own; "whereas, a man, with the best intentions in the world, may hurt a woman considerably, without ever guessing it."
Mrs. Waters prepared herself to point out to him that he would not have far to go for a practical example, but his eloquence swept on. (Mr. Waters was a lawyer.) ”

“ Waters, with a brave effort to imitate his detached manner; "and if a successful honeymoon is one that shows people they cannot be happy apart—oh, Adam, I don't know anything about ideal conditions and being together, but I have found out how wretched I can be without you, and—" The rest of a sentence that bade fair to be interesting she found herself forced to confide to the lapel of her husband's coat. ”

“ Waters's table at the hotel increase.
On the nineteenth of the month she received the final letter of the series, the last few lines of which read:
You remember we decided to be back in New York on the 20th. I leave, therefore, to-morrow. My train arrives in Washington at 1.03.
Mrs. Waters looked at her watch. It was already twelve o'clock, She sprang to the bell and rang it with such vigor that not one but three bellboys appeared, whom she severally despatched for the correct time, a porter, a cab and a time-table. ”

“ A little later she hailed an open carriage driven by an antiquated darkey, and visited that depository of American taste, good and otherwise, the Congressional Library; then lunched in the Library restaurant, finishing in time to catch the Mount Vernon trolley. ”

“ They seem to have "made things hum." It was so nice in Adam to manage to have your pair sent down in time to meet you. Get him to write often until you are better. I have always said a satisfactory honeymoon, a satisfactory marriage. ”