Only one thing
is plain to me, that when at last Ideala understood her feeling for
Lorrimer, she cherished it. After she found that her husband had broken
every tie, disregarded every obligation, legal and moral, that bound
her to him, she seems to have considered herself free. But I feel quite
sure she had not acknowledged this, even to herself, when she returned
to Lorrimer, and that simply because she had not contemplated the
possibility of being asked to take any decided step. When the time
came, however, she apparently never questioned her right to act on this
fancied freedom. The circumstances under which they had met were
probably responsible for a great deal. The whole of their acquaintance
had had something unusual about it, which would naturally predispose
their minds to further unaccustomed issues when any question of right
or expediency arose. The restrictions which men and women have seen fit
to place upon their intercourse with each other are the outcome of ages
of experience, and they who disregard them bring upon themselves the
troubles against which those same restrictions, irksome at times as
they must be, are the only adequate defence.
Pages:
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254