Mrs. PurkapileHe ran away and was gone for a year.When he came home he told me the silly storyOf being kidnapped by pirates on Lake MichiganAnd kept in chains so he could not write me.I pretended to believe it, though I knew very wellWhat he was doing, and that he metThe milliner, Mrs. Williams, now and thenWhen she went to the city to buy goods, as she said.But a promise is a promiseAnd marriage is marriage,And out of respect for my own characterI refused to be drawn into a divorceBy the scheme of a husband who had merely grown tiredOf his marital vow and duty.
He ran away and was gone for a year.When he came home he told me the silly storyOf being kidnapped by pirates on Lake MichiganAnd kept in chains so he could not write me.I pretended to believe it, though I knew very wellWhat he was doing, and that he metThe milliner, Mrs. Williams, now and thenWhen she went to the city to buy goods, as she said.But a promise is a promiseAnd marriage is marriage,And out of respect for my own characterI refused to be drawn into a divorceBy the scheme of a husband who had merely grown tiredOf his marital vow and duty.