I believe, to do him justice, he only intended to ruin her; but she was
cunning enough to insist upon marriage. Men who have never in all their
lives denied themselves the indulgence of a single fancy, cost what it
may, will not be baulked even by that condition if the _penchant_ be only
violent enough.'
I did not half understand this piece of worldly psychology, at which Lady
Knollys seemed to laugh.
'Poor Silas, certainly he struggled honestly against the consequences,
for he tried after the honeymoon to prove the marriage bad. But the Welsh
parson and the innkeeper papa were too strong for him, and the young lady
was able to hold her struggling swain fast in that respectable noose--and a
pretty prize he proved!'
'And she died, poor thing, broken-hearted, I heard.'
'She died, at all events, about ten years after her marriage; but I really
can't say about her heart. She certainly had enough ill-usage, I believe,
to kill her; but I don't know that she had feeling enough to die of it, if
it had not been that she drank: I am told that Welsh women often do. There
was jealousy, of course, and brutal quarrelling, and all sorts of horrid
stories.
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