Subsequently she had committed the profound connubial error of transferring her affections, or her thoughts, from him to his business, which, indeed, was much in want of a mate; and while he squandered the guineas, she patiently picked up the pence.

They had not lived unhappily.

He was constantly courteous to her.

But to see the Port at that sordid work considerably ruffled the Presence--put, as it were, the peculiar division between them; and to behave toward her as the same woman who had attracted his youthful ardours was a task for his magnificent mind, and may have ranked with him as an indemnity for his general conduct, if his reflections ever stretched so far.

The townspeople of Lymport were correct in saying that his wife, and his wife alone, had, as they termed it, kept him together.
Nevertheless, now that he was dead, and could no longer be kept together, they entirely forgot their respect for her, in the outburst of their secret admiration for the popular man.