Upon my word!"
She was regarding her husband in a puzzled manner. Burton was quietly
but well dressed. His apparel was not such as Ellen would have thought
of choosing for him, but in a dim sort of way she recognized its
qualities. She recognized, too, something new about him which, although
she vigorously rebelled against it, still impressed her with a sense of
superiority.
"Alfred Burton," she continued, impressively, "for the dear land's sake,
what's come over you? Mrs. Johnson was around last week and told me
you'd lost your job at Waddington's months ago. And here you are, all
in new clothes, and not a word about coming back or anything. Am I your
wife or not? What do you mean by it? Have you gone off your head, or
what have we done--me and little Alfred?"
"We will talk at tea-time," Burton said, uneasily.
Ellen set her lips grimly and the little party hastened on. Burton
ordered an extravagant tea, in which Ellen declined to take the
slightest interest. Alfred alone ate stolidly and with every appearance
of complete satisfaction. Burton had chosen a place as near the band as
possible, with a view to rendering conversation more or less difficult.
Ellen, however, had a voice which was superior to bands.
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