There will then
be an interval of intense misery for the wife. Her education and
prejudices will make her try to submit at first to what her sense knows
to be impossible; but eventually she is forced out of her unnatural
position by circumstances. To save her house and family she must rebel,
take the reins of government into her own hands, and face life, a
disappointed and lonely woman."
"Heaven help her!" said Claudia. "One knows that the future of a woman
in that state of mind is only a question of circumstance and
temperament; she may rise, but----"
Ideala looked up quickly. "But she may fall, you were going to say--
yes. But you know if she does it is her own fault. She _must_ know
better."
"She may not be quite mistress of herself at the time--she may be
fascinated; she may be led on!" I interposed, quickly. Claudia seemed
to have forgotten. "But one thing is certain, if she has any real good
in her she will always stop before it is too late."
"I think," said Claudia, "it would be better, after all, if women were
taught to expect to find themselves their husbands' equals--the
disappointment would not be so great if the husband proved inferior;
but when a woman has been led to look for so much, her imagination is
full of dreams in which he figures as an infallible being; she expects
him to be her refuge, support, and comfort at all times; and when a man
has such a height to fall from in any one's estimation, there can be
but little of him left if he does fall.
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