“Or: ‘This woman will get me a rich wife whom I cannot get at without her.’ No, my Blue Lotus, life is a serious matter. You will not always have me to guide you. You must think of practical matters. Under such circumstances you should ally yourself with such women.” Thus spoke Jodindra; but the council is very ancient and is mostly to be found in the Sutras. These books have been thought very holy. They contain chapters on pillules and philtres. When Jodindranath had finished this speech he sank back upon one of the cylindrical cushions. In a few moments his head bowed in slumber. This was the day for oil. The next day he shaved his whole body. His life is not unduly ruffled. Upon another day Jodindranath said to his son, “There are certain low women, people of ill repute, addicted to avarice. You should not converse with them at the street corners, lest your creditors see you.” His son’s life was not unduly ruffled. Imaginary Letters (Six Letters of William Bland Burn to his Wife) Wyndham Lewis Petrograd, January 7, 1917. Dear Lydia, Your amiable letter to hand. I am glad Yorke’s cold is better. He has not a throat of iron—tout comme son pere. But I should not wrap it up—When he hears me in the house he always comes leaping in my direction; but the moment he sees me, he seems to grow old and sober, rather than shy, and when he gets within about five yards of me, makes some innocently aggressive remark. I wish I could see him more. These long absences at the ends of the Earth prevent that. He thinks me a casual beggar I believe. I am glad you ask me those questions. “Why not be happy?” The chief use of a wife, after love, is to disgust you with your weaknesses, and to watch them constantly returning, by all sorts of bye-ways, to the attack. Or rather they seem to regard a wife as ideal “cover,” and a first-rate avenue of return. You kick one out one day, and you find him the next skulking beneath your wife’s petticoat waiting his chance. The conjugal skirt is a trap from which, any day you feel like hunting, you can return with a full bag.