The moment came when Buncombe grew confidential, and he, too, had a matrimonial history to disclose.

Poverty played no part in it; his business flourished, and Mrs.Buncombe, throughout a cohabitation of five years, made no complaint of her lot.

All at once--so asserted Buncombe--the lady began to talk of dullness; for a few months she moped, then of a sudden left home, and in a day or two announced by letter that she had taken a place as barmaid at a music-hall.

There followed an interview between husband and wife, with the result, said Buncombe, that they parted the best of friends, but with an understanding that Mrs.Buncombe should be free to follow her own walk in life, with a moderate allowance to supplement what she could earn.
That was five years ago.

Mrs.Buncombe now sang at second-rate halls, and enjoyed a certain popularity, which seemed to her an ample justification of the independence she had claimed.