That Brute Simmons by Arthur Morrison — Read

Simmons's infamous behavior toward his wife is still matter for profound / wonderment among the neighbors. The other women had all along regarded / him as a model husband, and certainly Mrs. Simmons was a most / conscientious wife. She toiled and slaved for that man, as any woman in / the whole street would have maintained, far more than any husband had a / right to expect. And now this was what she got for it. Perhaps he had / suddenly gone mad.

Before she married Simmons, Mrs. Simmons had been the widowed Mrs. Ford. / Ford had got a berth as donkeyman on a tramp steamer, and that steamer / had gone down with all hands off the Cape: a judgment, the widow woman / feared, for long years of contumacy which had culminated in the / wickedness of taking to the sea, and taking to it as a donkeyman -- an / immeasurable fall for a capable engine-fitter. Twelve years as Mrs. Ford / had left her still childless, and childless she remained as Mrs. / Simmons.