idiculous! Not that I believe a word or any innuendo of
the shocking old wizard, but it only shows, it only shows the
helplessness of a woman who is not bound to a man, and how entirely the
man is free!"

Nothing a man does counts well for him with a woman but those things he
does in accordance with her estimate of what his attitude towards her
should be! And Bulstrode's high-minded control, the reserve--which
since her marriage had been maintained, only counted now against him.

Wasn't she, in it all, rather counting without her host? Their bond
was so tacit, so silent, so unworded. Indeed, he had made no bond, had
asked her for no pledge. She was tied hand and foot, but he was free.
And over that freedom what vague right had she? What dominion could
she have? Isn't it, after all, in the life of a clever, delightful
man, something not strictly a burden, the soul-absorbing entire
devotion of a woman not too old and more or less not generally
disliked? What did it--heavens, but she was analyzing--what did it
cost him? Hadn't he always gone from her at a moment's warning, and
stopped away for months and months? Imperious as by nature she was,
she had always been wise enough to reserve a summons from her that, she
had every reason to believe, would fetch him from any distance to her
side. She never tested him, she scarcely ever wrote to him; she had
been at the Sorghams', and alone for a month, and save for one
perfectly delightful day he had not once turned up to keep her company.

As the woman's thoughts encompassed the subject they brought it up to
this: that as far as things went, at all events, there was no blame: no
matter how society had coupled their names, she had at least the
conscience of her acts clear. Jimmy was to be thanked for it from
beginning to end; as far as the conscience of her thoughts went, well,
those were her own affair. Oh, she could recall skirmishes and narrow
impasses! Her tactics had more than once been those only permitted by
the codes of battle, and of another passion.

Her chair, which she had left, she passed and repassed as she walked up
and down, trailing her soft dress across the floor. She stood before
the fire, her foot held out to the fervent flame.

Her face softened as there came out clearly to her the real picture of
Jimmy that always kept itself somewhere between her eyes and her brain.
Ah, there were men of talent and fashion, who did not hesitate to make
me