I am afraid you must be dull in these long evenings when Tom is out of the way." "I am indeed dull," Mrs.Halliday answered peevishly; "and if Tom cared for me, he wouldn't leave me like this evening after evening.

But he doesn't care for me." Mr Sheldon laid down the newspaper, and seated himself opposite his guest.

He sat for a few minutes in silence, beating time to some imaginary air with the tips of his fingers on the old-fashioned mahogany table.

Then he said, with a half-smile upon his face,-- "But surely Tom is the best of husbands! He has been a little wild since his coming to London, I know; but then you see he doesn't often come to town." "He's just as bad in Yorkshire," Georgy answered gloomily; "he's always going to Barlingford with somebody or other, or to meet some of his old friends.

I'm sure, if I had known what he was, I would never have married him." "Why, I thought he was such a good husband.