Glenway Wescott

“ Henry refused to hear his complaints, so he complained to Rose: "I'm not a man in my own house. She can nag at me without saying a word. Tim takes her side. She treats me as if I were a boarder."
When he was working away from home he was more like his old self, coarse and happy-go-lucky. But he grew strange in his ways, arguing with himself as if in his second childhood, and giving the horses in the livery stable strange names: Lavina, Jesse, and Jubilee, instead of Topsy, Dobbin, and Baldy. He was a man who had provoked madness—it might happen again ”

“ With a gross gesture life began; it could end only by decay; if Timothy died, his body . . . Filth fed the roots of the clean plants; Jesse's stables provided her child with food; it was God's plan. Love married to disgust, everlastingly married; it was a sacrament; it was sinful to want to divorce them. She could not repent, but she could be humble; and in her humility she remembered that her own body was not pure; no earthly water could wash it. An impure cradle. . . . Nancy threw herself on the floor, and knew that the pain of her second childbirth had begun, too soon. ”

“ Rose said: "Bear up, Nancy. Don't take it so hard. Jesse is kind and a good provider. You'll get used to his ways."
Henry kissed her, clenched his teeth, and walked away without looking back; he could not blame his brother-in-law, nor forgive him.
The cutter slid away in a trough of discolored snow. Nancy began to weep, not because the relatives had gone—she needed to be alone. The house was quiet and sweet, hidden in a snow bank; if she could have it all to herself, with Timothy asleep . . . A sinful thought for a woman has to have a husband, and a child a father. ”

“ Jesse arrived. There was a room for him with a door of its own into the back yard. He found work by the day, and later began to drive for the livery stable.
Henry said: "You oughtn't to allow Jesse to work in a stable. You know it'll make you nervous again."
She smiled quietly. "He's always been with horses; he'll be more content. I'm glad he's doing what he likes. I shan't mind. I want to show that I don't mind."
Henry was anxious. Rose said: "Nancy is a changed woman. She has a wonderful character." ”

“ This is to inform you of very bad news. My poor wife seems to be failing in her mind. She won't let little Tim drink milk and she washes him until he gets so tired he cries. She is so set against me I don't know what I am going to do. ”