Nathaniel Hawthorne

Wakefield - Original Edition Nathaniel Hawthorne

In some old magazine or newspaper I recollect a story, told as truth, of a man-let us call him Wakefield-who absented himself for a long time from his wife. The fact, thus abstractedly stated, is not very uncommon, nor-without a proper distinction of circumstances-to be condemned either as naughty or nonsensical. Howbeit, this, though far from the most aggravated, is perhaps the strangest, instance on record, of marital delinquency; and, moreover, as remarkable a freak as may be found in the whole list of human oddities. The wedded couple lived in London.