But all of this she kept locked in her poor little heart, and meanwhile did her duty by her husband with an untroubled brow, though those mouse-like eyes of hers grew ever more piteous.
He, for his part, did not do his duty by her.

Of one side of his conduct she was careless, being totally indifferent as to whom he admired.

Others she found it hard to bear.

The man was by nature a bully, one who found pleasure in oppressing the helpless, and who loved, in the privacy of his home, to wreak the ill-temper which he was forced to conceal abroad.

In company, and especially before any of her people, he treated her with the greatest deference, and would even make loud laudatory remarks concerning her; when they were alone there was a different tale to tell, particularly if she had in any way failed in promoting that social advancement for which he had married her.
"What do you suppose I give you all those jewels and fine clothes for, to say nothing of the money you waste in keeping up the house ?" he would ask brutally.
Jane made no answer; silence was her only shield, but her heart burned within her.