Alexina shook her wise little head. "Oh, no. It isn't done any more. No woman who has learned to think is so unjust as to throw the whole burden of life on her husband's shoulders. You have your own daily battle in the business world. I will do the rest." "What damned emancipated talk." "What a funny old-fashioned word. We don't even say advanced or new any more." "It's nonsense anyhow. You're nothing but a child." "You may just bet your life I'm not a child. Nor have I awakened all of a sudden. In one sense I have. But not in this particular branch of modern science. I have read tons about it, and Aileen and I are always discussing everything that interests the public; I have even read the newspapers for two years." "Much better you didn't. There is no reason whatever for a woman in your position knowing anything about public affairs. It detracts from your charm." "Maybe, but we'll find more charm in Life as we grow older." His memory ran back along a curved track and returned with something that looked like a bogey. "May I ask what your program is? Your household program? I had got everything down to a fine point.... It seems too bad you should bother...." "Bother? I've been bored to death, and feeling like a silly little good-for-nothing besides. The trouble is, it's too little bother. James and I have had a long talk. Housekeeping will be reduced to its elements with him, but at least I shall begin to feel really grown up when I pore over monthly bills and 'slips' and sign cheques." She hesitated. "You mustn't think for a minute that I want to make you feel out of it, Morty. It. is only that I _must_. The time has come, ... Of course, you have been paying half the bills anyhow. We could simply go on along those lines. I will tell you what it all amounts to, shortly after the first of the month, and you'll give me half." IV Dwight stared at the end of his cigar. His was not an agile brain but in that moment it had an illuminating flash. He realized that this sheltered creature, with whom her mother had never discussed household economics, and from whom he had purposely kept all knowledge of his business, took for granted that he could pay his share of the monthly expenses, merely because all the men she knew did twice as much, however they might grumble. For the matter of that she never saw Tom Abbott that he did not curse the ascending prices, but there was no change whatever in his bountiful fashion of living. Alexina knew that the times were bad and that her husband was having something of a struggle, and, as a dutiful wife, was anxious to help him out for the present, but it was simply beyond her powers of comprehension to grasp the fact that he was in no position to pay half the expenses of their small establishment. If he told her ... tried to make her understand ... even if she did, how would he appear in her eyes?