And first, there came a gush of tears.

These were for herself.

A shadow had suddenly fallen upon the lovely home where she had hoped to spend all the days of her life--a shadow from a storm-boding cloud.

Even from the beginning of their wedded life, she had marked in her husband a defect of character, which, gaining strength, had led to his giving up business, and their retirement to the country.

That defect was the common one, appertaining to all, a looking away from the present into the future for the means of enjoyment.