'Well, it's no doubt over by this time.'
'Over? Beginning, I should say,' remarked Alice, swinging her
parasol at a butterfly.
They finished their walk to the house in silence, and Richard went
at once to his dressing-room. Here he sat down. After all, his
mental disquiet was not readily to be dismissed; it even grew as he
speculated and viewed likelihoods from all sides. Probably Kate had
made a complete disclosure. How would it affect Adela?
You must not suppose that his behaviour in the case of the man
Rendal had argued disregard for Adela's opinion of him. Richard was
incapable of understanding how it struck his wife, that was all. If
he reflected on the matter, no doubt he was very satisfied with
himself, feeling that he had displayed a manly resolution and
consistency. But the present difficulty was grave. Whatever Adela
might say, there could be no doubt as to her thought; she would
henceforth--yes, despise him. That cut his thick skin to the quick;
his nature was capable of smarting when thus assailed. For he had by
no means lost his early reverence for Adela; nay, in a sense it had
increased. His primitive ideas on woman had undergone a change since
his marriage. Previously he had considered a wife in the light of
property; intellectual or moral independence he could not attribute
to her.
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