Now it became her pleasure to make what trouble she could between Stephen and his wife . She had the advantage of Emily in that she was always sweet-spoken and , on the surface , sweet-tempered . Emily , hurt and galled in a score of petty ways , so subtle that they were beyond a man 's courser comprehension , astonished her husband by her fierce outbursts of anger that seemed to him for the most part without reason or excuse . He tried his best to preserve the peace between his wife and mother ; and when he failed , not understanding all that Emily really endured at the elder woman 's merciless hands , he grew to think her capricious and easily irritated -- a spoiled child whose whims must not be taken too seriously . To a certain extent he was right . Emily had been spoiled . The unbroken indulgence which her brother and sister had always accorded her had fitted her but poorly to cope with the trials of her new life . True , Mrs. Fair was an unpleasant woman to live with , but if Emily had chosen to be more patient under petty insults , and less resentful of her husband 's well-meant though clumsy efforts for harmony , the older woman could have effected real little mischief . But this Emily refused to be , and the breach between husband and wife widened insidiously . The final rupture came two years after their marriage . Emily , in rebellious anger , told her husband that she would no longer live in the same house with his mother . `` You must choose between us , '' she said , her splendid voice vibrating with all the unleashed emotion of her being , yet with no faltering in it . `` If she stays I go . '' Stephen Fair , harassed and bewildered , was angry with the relentless anger of a patient man roused at last . `` Go , then , '' he said sternly , `` I 'll never turn my mother from my door for any woman 's whim . '' The stormy red went out of Emily 's face , leaving it like a marble wash . `` You mean that ! '' she said calmly . `` Think well . If I go I 'll never return . ''
`` I do mean it , '' said XXXXX .
Emily Fair Stephen being courser emotion indulgence right whim years