What am I to do with
myself?"
"Act like a true woman," said I, firmly.
She lifted her eyes suddenly to my face as if I had presumed.
"Do your duty as a wife and mother," I added, "and there will be no
danger of your dying with ennui."
"You speak as if I were derelict in this matter."
She drew herself up with some dignity of manner.
"I merely prescribed a remedy for a disease from which you are
suffering," said I, calmly. "Thousands of women scattered all over
the land are martyrs to this disease; and there is only one
remedy--that which I offer to you, Delia."
I think she saw, from my manner, that it would be useless to quarrel
with me. I was so much in earnest that truth came to my lips in any
attempt at utterance.
"What would you have me do, Doctor?" There was a petty fretfulness
in her voice. "Turn cook or nursery-maid?"
"Yes, rather than sit idle, and let your restless mind fret itself
for want of useful employment into unhappiness."
"I cannot take your prescription in that crude form," she replied,
with more seriousness than I had expected.
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