Of course you
know more about it than you pretend.'
Joseph leaned back in his chair and regarded her with a smile of the
loftiest scorn.
'It never occurs to you to explain it in the simplest way, of
course, If ever you hear of a marriage, the first thing you ask
yourself is: What has he or she to gain by it? Natural enough--in
you. Now do you really suppose that all marriages come about in the
way that _yours_ did--on your side, I mean?'
Clem was far too dull-witted to be capable of quick retort. She
merely replied:
'I don't know what you're talking about.'
'Of course not. But let me assure you that people sometimes think of
other things besides making profit when they get married. It's a
pity that you always show yourself so coarse-minded.'
Joseph was quite serious in administering this rebuke. He really
felt himself justified in holding the tone of moral superiority. The
same phenomenon has often been remarked in persons conscious that
their affairs are prospering, and whose temptations to paltry
meanness are on that account less frequent.
'And what about yourself?' asked his wife, having found her retort
at length.
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