"It was very refreshing to hear her ask him 'his opinion' in company, and his diplomatic windings and twistings on those occasions were worthy of the wiliest politician that ever flourished at the 'White House.' As to speaking to any other female than Mrs. Daisy, he would as soon have ordered his own coffin; and, truth to tell, this was where the matrimonial yoke weighed the heaviest, for Didymus (unlucky wretch) had an eye for a dainty waist or a pair of falling shoulders, or a light, springing step; but the way he had to '_shoulder!_ _march!_' when they 'hove in sight,' was crucifying to his feelings!
"Mrs. Daisy always went with him, to and from the store, for '_exercise_.'(?) He was never allowed to go out after dark; his evenings being mainly occupied in holding skeins of silk, or sorting knots of 'German Worsted,' to give his wife an opportunity to immortalize her genius in transforming the same into hump-backed dogs, deformed lambs and rabbits, with ears twice as long as their bodies. Under such watchful guardianship he was in a fair way to be able to omit entirely at his orisons, this petition--'Lead us not into temptation.'
"This hymeneal strait-jacket was more particularly affecting, inasmuch as Mrs. Daisy _herself_ was not what her _name_ would seem to suggest, saving that she was very red. It was the problem of her life to find dresses and hats that 'agreed with her complexion,' and she might well have exclaimed 'how _expensive it is to be ugly_.'
"Well, 'it's a long lane that has no turning;' and so Didymus thought, when he woke up one fine morning and found himself a widower! Did you ever see a poor robin let loose from a cage? or a mouse released from the clutches of grimalkin? or a kitten emancipated from an easy-chair, where she had been mistaken for a cushion by some fat old lady of about two hundred weight? Well--_I say nothing_! The satisfaction with which Didymus ordered his 'weeds,' spoke for itself! In HIS mental rainbow, _black_ was hereafter to be '_couleur de rose_!' He purchased Mrs. Daisy a _nice_ coffin, and a STRONG one; and his speech to Miss Maria Fitz Bumble was cut and dried, and ready for delivery as soon as he had safely planted his _first_ Daisy in the earth!