You see, the mainspring of
her nature must have been vanity. There is no reason why it
shouldn't have been; I guess it is vanity that makes most of us
keep straight, if we do keep straight, in this world.
If it had been merely a matter of Edward's relations with the girl I
dare say Florence would have faced it out. She would no doubt
have made him scenes, have threatened him, have appealed to his
sense of humour, to his promises. But Mr Bagshawe and the fact
that the date was the 4th of August must have been too much for
her superstitious mind. You see, she had two things that she
wanted. She wanted to be a great lady, installed in Branshaw
Teleragh. She wanted also to retain my respect.
She wanted, that is to say, to retain my respect for as long as she
lived with me. I suppose, if she had persuaded Edward
Ashburnham to bolt with her she would have let the whole thing
go with a run. Or perhaps she would have tried to exact from me a
new respect for the greatness of her passion on the lines of all for
love and the world well lost. That would be just like Florence.
In all matrimonial associations there is, I believe, one constant
factor --a desire to deceive the person with whom one lives as to
some weak spot in one's character or in one's career.
Pages:
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171