Not
Cordelia nor Imogen more deserves our tears.
She herself cried frequently, making herself look plain
and old, which distressed her husband. He was particularly
kind to her when he hardly ever saw her, and she accepted
his kindness without resentment, even with gratitude, so
docile had she become. She did not hate him, even as she
had never loved him; with her it was only when she was
excited that the semblance of either passion arose. People
said she was headstrong, but really her weak brain left her cold.
Suffering, however, is more independent of temperament,
and the wisest of women could hardly have suffered more.
As for Gino, he was quite as boyish as ever, and carried
his iniquities like a feather. A favourite speech of his
was, "Ah, one ought to marry! Spiridione is wrong; I must
persuade him. Not till marriage does one realize the
pleasures and the possibilities of life." So saying, he
would take down his felt hat, strike it in the right place
as infallibly as a German strikes his in the wrong place,
and leave her.
One evening, when he had gone out thus, Lilia could
stand it no longer. It was September. Sawston would be
just filling up after the summer holidays. People would be
running in and out of each other's houses all along the
road. There were bicycle gymkhanas, and on the 30th Mrs.
Herriton would be holding the annual bazaar in her garden
for the C.M.S. It seemed impossible that such a free, happy
life could exist.
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