“Thou wretch! — thou vixen! — thou shrew!” said I to my wife on the morning after our wedding, “thou witch! — thou hag! — thou whipper-snapper! — thou sink of iniquity! — thou fiery-faced quintessence of all that is abominable! — thou — thou —” here standing upon tiptoe, seizing her by the throat, and placing my mouth close to her ear, I was preparing to launch forth a new and more decided epithet of opprobrium, which should not fail, if ejaculated, to convince her of her insignificance, when to my extreme horror and astonishment I discovered that I had lost my breath.
