She felt dreadfully humiliated . I do n't know that he was any too good a husband to her , though she was never heard to complain . But she always had a cowed look . Norman Douglas did n't get the woman he wanted thirty years ago and the Douglases never liked to put up with second best . '' `` Who was the woman he did want . '' `` Ellen West . They were n't engaged exactly , I believe , but they went about together for two years . And then they just broke off -- nobody ever know why . Just some silly quarrel , I suppose . And Norman went and married Hester Reese before his temper had time to cool -- married her just to spite Ellen , I have n't a doubt . So like a man ! Hester was a nice little thing , but she never had much spirit and he broke what little she had . She was too meek for Norman . He needed a woman who could stand up to him . Ellen would have kept him in fine order and he would have liked her all the better for it . He despised Hester , that is the truth , just because she always gave in to him . I used to hear him say many a time , long ago when he was a young fellow ` Give me a spunky woman -- spunk for me every time . ' And then he went and married a girl who could n't say boo to a goose -- man-like . That family of Reeses were just vegetables . They went through the motions of living , but they did n't LIVE . ''
`` Russell Reese used his first wife 's wedding-ring to marry his XXXXX , '' said Susan reminiscently .
Douglas Douglases Ellen Hester Reese Reeses West second spunk years