If you say to someone, "You are nervous," you offer him an insult he will never forgive you; for this word has been so misconstrued and so ill used that it has come to be understood in the sense of madness. People shun the nervous person without pitying or understanding him; on the contrary, they accuse him of selfishness and laziness — he is weak-willed, so why does he not overcome all this and become like other people? His conduct is not natural — and on the basis of this notion he receives his treatment from those around him.

An educated friend came to me, complaining of his wife. "I hate to say this about Samira," he brought out, perplexity spreading over his features; "she is my wife, and a charming woman, but I feel that something inside me will burst if I do not speak." He wiped the sweat from his cheeks and went on: "She is resentful of me, and sensitive in the extreme, so that I am forever wounding her feelings without meaning to. She cries at the slightest cause, and accuses me of hard-heartedness!!"

I asked him whether this was her constant behavior, and he answered emphatically: "The monthly period has nothing whatever to do with it; she has been like this for twelve years, and perhaps this was her state before, only I did not notice it."

"I was shaving this morning when she pounded violently on the door, shouting that the icebox had suddenly stopped and she did not know how to set it right. Nor was that the only thing that upset me: when she banged on the door I gave a start, and the razor jerked in my hand and cut off a piece of my skin, and I waited until the bleeding stopped, while she still stood there accusing me of selfishness and of shirking out of helping her."

— How old is your wife?

— "Thirty. No, it is not her age that affects her conduct. Ah, those moods! Coming into the house has become like a frightful dream, for I am never sure how I shall find her — forever broom in hand, cleaning."

— She is orderly, then?

— "Let her be what she pleases; she crushes

my spirits and hurls me into a mental inferno, screaming if I do not tidy my desk, or hang up my hat, or if I fail to empty the ash tray. She pelts me with harsh words."