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This story by Edith Wharton was adapted into Special English by Dona de Sanctis.

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•  Mr. Mindon returned home for lunch.
•  His wife Millicent was not at home.
•  The servants did not know where she was.
•  Mr. Mindon sat alone at the table in the garden.
•  He ate a small piece of meat and drank some mineral water.
•  Mr. Mindon always ate simple meals, because he had problems with his stomach.
•  Why then did he keep a cook among his servants?
•  Because his wife Millicent liked to invite her friends to big dinners and serve them rare and expensive food and wine.
•  Mr. Mindon did not enjoy his wife's parties.
•  Millicent complained that he did not know how to enjoy life.
•  She did a lot of things that he did not like.
•  Millicent wasted Mr. Mindon's money and was unpleasant to him.
•  But he never got angry with his wife.
•  After eating, Mr. Mindon took a walk through his house.
•  He did not stay long in the living room.
•  It reminded him of all the hours he had spent there at his wife's parties.
•  The sight of the formal dining room made him feel even more uncomfortable.
•  He remembered the long dinners where he had to talk to his wife's friends for hours.
•  They never seemed very interested in what he was saying.
•  Mr. Mindon walked quickly past the ballroom where his wife danced with her friends.
•  He would go to bed after dinner.
•  But he could hear the orchestra playing until three in the morning.
•  Mr. Mindon walked into the library.
•  No one in the house ever read any of the books.
•  But Mr. Mindon was proud to be rich enough to have a perfectly useless room in his house.
•  He went into the sunny little room where his wife planned her busy days and evenings.
•  Her writing table was covered with notes and cards from all her friends.
•  Her wastepaper basket was full of empty envelopes that had carried invitations to lunches, dinners, and theater parties.
•  Mr. Mindon saw a letter crushed into a small ball on the floor.
•  He bent to pick it up.
•  Just as he was about to throw it into the wastepaper basket, he noticed that the letter was signed by his business partner, Thomas Antrim.
•  But Antrim's letter to Mr. Mindon's wife was not about business.
•  As Mr. Mindon read it, he felt as if his mind was spinning out of control.
•  He sat down heavily in the chair near his wife's little writing table.
•  Now the room looked cold and unfamiliar.
•  "Who are you?" the walls seemed to say.
•  "Who am I?" Mr. Mindon said in a loud voice.
•  "I'll tell you who I am!
•  I am the man who paid for every piece of furniture in this room.
•  If it were not for me and my money, this room would be empty!"
•  Suddenly, Mr. Mindon felt taller.
•  He marched across his wife's room.
•  It belonged to him, didn't it?
•  The house belonged to him, too.
•  He felt powerful.
•  He sat at the table and wrote a letter to Millicent.
•  One of the servants came into the room.
•  "Did you call, sir?" he asked.
•  "No," Mr. Mindon replied.
•  "But since you are here, please telephone for a taxi cab at once."
•  The taxi took him to a hotel near his bank.
•  A clerk showed him to his room.
•  It smelled of cheap soap.
•  The window in the room was open and hot noises came up from the street.
•  Mr. Mindon looked at his watch.
•  Four o'clock.
•  He wondered if Millicent had come home yet and read his letter.
•  His head began to ache, and Mr. Mindon lay down on the bed.
•  When he woke up, it was dark.
•  He looked at his watch.
•  Eight o'clock.
•  Millicent must be dressing for dinner.
•  They were supposed to go to Mrs. Targe's house for dinner tonight.
•  Well, Mr. Mindon thought, Millicent would have to go alone.
•  Maybe she would ask Thomas Antrim to take her to the party!
•  Mr. Mindon realized he was hungry.
•  He left his room and walked down the stairs to the hotel dining room.
•  The air -- smelling of coffee and fried food -- wrapped itself around his head.
•  Mr. Mindon could not eat much of the food that the hotel waiter brought him.
•  He went back to his room, feeling sick.
•  He also felt hot and dirty in the clothing he had worn all day.
•  He had never realized how much he loved his home!
•  Someone knocked at his door.
•  Mr. Mindon jumped to his feet.
•  "Mindon?" a voice asked.
•  "Are you there?"
•  Mr. Mindon recognized that voice. It belonged to Laurence Meysy.
•  Thirty years ago, Meysy had been very popular with women -- especially with other men's wives.
•  As a young man he had interfered in many marriages.
•  Now, in his old age, Laurence Meysy had become a kind of "marriage doctor."
•  He helped husbands and wives save their marriages.
•  Mr. Mindon began to feel better as soon as Laurence Meysy walked into his hotel room.
•  Two men followed him.
•  One was Mr. Mindon's rich uncle, Ezra Brownrigg.
•  The other was the Reverend Dr. Bonifant, the minister of Saint Luke's church where Mr. Mindon and his family prayed every Sunday.
•  Mr. Mindon looked at the three men and felt very proud that they had come to help him.
•  For the first time in his married life, Mr. Mindon felt as important as his wife Millicent.
•  Laurence Meysy sat on the edge of the bed and lit a cigarette.
•  "Mrs. Mindon sent for me," he said.
•  Mr. Mindon could not help feeling proud of Millicent.
•  She had done the right thing.
•  Meysy continued.
•  "She showed me your letter.
•  She asks you for mercy."
•  Meysy paused, and then said, "The poor woman is very unhappy.
•  And we have come here to ask you what you plan to do."
•  Now Mr. Mindon began to feel uncomfortable.
•  "To do?" he asked.
•  "To do? Well ... I, I plan to ... to leave her."
•  Meysy stopped smoking his cigarette.
•  "Do you want to divorce her?" he asked.
•  "Why, yes! Yes!" Mr. Mindon replied.
•  Meysy knocked the ashes from his cigarette.
•  "Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this?" he asked.
•  Mr. Mindon nodded his head.
•  "I plan to divorce her," he said loudly.
•  Mr. Mindon began to feel very excited.
•  It was the first time he had ever had so many people sitting and listening to him.
•  He told his audience everything, beginning with his discovery of his wife's love affair with his business partner, and ending with his complaints about her expensive dinner parties.
•  His uncle looked at his watch.
•  Dr. Bonifant began to stare out of the hotel window.
•  Meysy stood up. "Do you plan to dishonor yourself then?" he asked.
•  No one knows what has happened.
•  You are the only one who can reveal the secret.
•  You will make yourself look foolish.
•  Mr. Mindon tried to rise, but he fell back weakly.
•  The three men picked up their hats.
•  In another moment, they would be gone.
•  When they left, Mr. Mindon would lose his audience, and his belief in himself and his decision.
•  "I won't leave for New York until tomorrow," he whispered.
•  Laurence Meysy smiled.
•  "Tomorrow will be too late," he said.
•  "Tomorrow everyone will know you are here."
•  Meysy opened the hotel room door.
•  Mr. Brownrigg and Dr. Bonifant walked out of the room.
•  Meysy turned to follow them, when he felt Mr. Mindon's hand grab his arm.
•  "I ... I will come with you," Mr. Mindon sighed.
•  "It's ... it's ... for the children."
•  Laurence Meysy nodded as Mr. Mindon walked out of the room.
•  He closed the door gently.