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Gissing, George, 1857-1903

"The Unclassed"

I can't keep this
attitude any longer. I must tell you how things are going on, and
you must give me what help you can. And perhaps I shall be telling
you what you already know?"
"I have suspected."
"Where is the blame?" Julian broke out, with sudden vehemence. "I
cannot think that ever husband was more patient and more indulgent
than I have been. I have refused her nothing that my means could
possibly obtain. I have given up all the old quiet habits of my life
that she mightn't think I slighted her; I scarcely ever open a book
at home, knowing that it irritates her to see me reading; I do my
best to amuse her at all times. How does she reward me? For ever she
grumbles that I can't perform impossibilities,--take her to
theatres, buy her new dresses, procure for her friends and
acquaintances. My wishes, expressed or understood, weigh with her
less than the least of her own caprices. She wantonly does things
which she knows will cause me endless misery. Her companions are
gross and depraved people, who constantly drag her lower and lower,
to their own level. The landlady has told me that, in my absence,
women have called to see her who certainly ought not to enter any
decent house.


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