[ILLUSTRATION]
MY CHILD-WIFE.
"The big boys quizzed me, made hideous faces at me from behind their
spelling-books, and great hulking Tom Halliday threw a spit-ball that
lodged on the wall just over my head, by way of showing his contempt for
me; but I looked at Susie, and took courage."
[Description: 467EAF. Frontispiece image of two children sitting on a bench. The girl has her arm around the shoulder of the small boy as they read a book together. Behind them a rowdy bunch of school-boys make fun of them, pointing, laughing and shooting spit-balls.]