A Man's Life

He would always be, by nature, a contemplative and a dilettante. He had been what was called a faithful husband. And when may had suddenly died, carried off by the infectious pneumonia through which she had nursed their youngest child, he honestly mourned her. Their long years together had shown him that it did not so much matter if marriage was a duty, as long as it kept the dignity of a duty. Lapsing from that, it became a battle of ugly appetites. After all, there was good in the old ways. It was all a man ought to ask something.