Secure in his all-sufficing income, he grudged no expenditure that could bring himself or his wife satisfaction.

On the wedding-tour in Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset--it lasted about seven weeks--Monica learnt, among other things less agreeable, that her husband was generous with money.
He was anxious she should dress well, though only, as Monica soon discovered, for his own gratification.

Soon after they had settled down at home she equipped herself for the cold season, and Widdowson cared little about the price so long as the effect of her new costumes was pleasing to him.
'You are making a butterfly of me,' said Monica merrily, when he expressed strong approval of a bright morning dress that had just come home.
'A beautiful woman,' he replied, with the nervous gravity which still possessed him when complimenting her, or saying tender things, 'a beautiful woman ought to be beautifully clad.' At the same time he endeavoured to impress her with the gravest sense of a married woman's obligations.

His raptures, genuine enough, were sometimes interrupted in the oddest way if Monica chanced to utter a careless remark of which he could not strictly approve, and such interruptions frequently became the opportunity for a long and solemn review of the wifely status.

Without much trouble he had brought her into a daily routine which satisfied him.