At night he returned to find his wife silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke.

This life was trying to John.
After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her husband in his financial straits.
"I am going to economize," she declared.

"I will take no heed what I shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed." Again for the thousandth time he took heart.

After all, Dorothe might become a helpmate.

She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure.