“There is nothing remarkable about Bert. It is one of his charms. I remember once that when mother was telling me I should acquire certain practical accomplishments upon which I might fall back in case of accident, I said that none of the professions attracted me, and that I preferred to be ‘just a plain lady.’ Well, Bert is just a plain gentleman. Are you laughing to hear me praise him?” “I was not laughing. I was wondering whether you said such nice things to him—whether you thought it would be good for discipline.” “Of course I say those things to him. When a woman marries a man she pays him the biggest compliment one human creature can pay another. Nothing that she can _say_ after that can seem excessive, can it?” “And yet, it will make quite a difference to him, I fancy, whether you do say those things or not. He paid you a compliment when he asked you to marry him, as large a one as he could possibly. Yet you will like to have him say things once in a while.” She gave a little unreadable laugh. “Somehow I don’t expect to spoil Bert. Because he is just a plain gentleman, and not a genius or anything like that, I am not so nervous about him.” “He ought to be very grateful. I have no doubt but that he is grateful. Do you know, I think you are quite as practical as if you were fashionably flippant and cynical? We always are drawing on our imaginations or our bank account. Undoubtedly we should be careful to avoid an overdraft. Marriage is a sort of promissory note.” “That sometimes goes to protest?” “That sometimes go to protest. It is a kind of duet, too, a duet in which it is not so important that the quality of the voices shall be the same as that they shall agree, first, to sing the same tune, and second, to sing it in the same key.” “Yes,” she said, “I can see that the key is very important, even if he had to hum or whistle. Which reminds me that Bert can scarcely tell one tune from another. It was General Grant, wasn’t it, who only recognized two tunes?—one was ‘Yankee Doodle’ and the other wasn’t. But Bert likes music—my music.” “I believe you—I believe him. And that will always be a great help when it comes to managing him.” “Yes, Bert will need considerable managing,—what you might call minor managing. I don’t pretend that he is free from that necessity.” “He will just need managing enough to keep you pleasantly occupied. It is not good for man to be unmanaged. Let none that wait on thee be ashamed.” “Are you quite sure you are not agreeing with me about everything just to be nice?” “Quite sure. Though it is true that no one should or could quarrel with a bride.” “Except the bridegroom. You would be surprised to know how many bridal-tour quarrels I have heard of.” “Who tells?” “The participants—long afterward; and not always so long afterward either. I have a friend who told me when she came home from her tour. And guess what it was about?” “I couldn’t.”