He
appeared, indeed, to be very ill; his shoulders began to be bowed;
there were pockets under his eyes; he had extraordinary moments
of inattention.
And Leonora describes herself as watching him as a fierce cat
watches an unconscious pigeon in a roadway. In that silent
watching, again, I think she was a Catholic--of a people that can
think thoughts alien to ours and keep them to themselves. And the
thoughts passed through her mind; some of them even got through
to Edward with never a word spoken. At first she thought that it
might be remorse, or grief, for the death of Florence that was
oppressing him. But she watched and watched, and uttered
apparently random sentences about Florence before the girl, and
she perceived that he had no grief and no remorse. He had not any
idea that Florence could have committed suicide without writing
at least a tirade to him. The absence of that made him certain that
it had been heart disease. For Florence had never undeceived him
on that point. She thought it made her seem more romantic.
No, Edward had no remorse. He was able to say to himself that he
had treated Florence with gallant attentiveness of the kind that she
desired until two hours before her death.
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