Mrs.Dagworthy survived him little more than half a year.

So there, said Dunfield, was a mistake well done with; and it was disposed to let bygones be bygones.
What was the truth of all this?
That Dagworthy married hastily and found his wife uncongenial, and that Mrs.Dagworthy passed the last two years of her life in mourning over a fatal mistake, was all that could be affirmed as fact, and probably the two persons most nearly concerned would have found it difficult to throw more light upon the situation.
Outwardly it was as commonplace a story as could be told; even the accession of interest which would have come of Dagworthy's cruelty was due to the imagination of Dunfield gossips.

Richard was miserable enough in his home, and frequently bad-tempered, but his wife had nothing worse from him than an angry word now and then.

After the first few months of their marriage, the two lived, as far as possible, separate lives; Mrs.
Dagworthy spent the days with her mother and sister, Richard at the mill, and the evenings were got through with as little friction as might be between two people neither of whom could speak half a dozen words without irritating or disgusting the other.

The interesting feature of the case was the unexpectedness of Dagworthy's choice.