Well, he was a sentimentalist.
And the moment that she heard that, Leonora determined that the
girl should not go five thousand miles away and that she should
not continue to love Edward. The way she worked it was this:
She continued to tell the girl that she must belong to Edward; she
was going to get a divorce; she was going to get a dissolution of
marriage from Rome. But she considered it to be her duty to warn
the girl of the sort of monster that Edward was. She told the girl of
La Dolciquita, of Mrs Basil, of Maisie Maidan, of Florence. She
spoke of the agonies that she had endured during her life with the
man, who was violent, overbearing, vain, drunken, arrogant, and
monstrously a prey to his sexual necessities. And, at hearing of the
miseries her aunt had suffered--for Leonora once more had the
aspect of an aunt to the girl--with the swift cruelty of youth and,
with the swift solidarity that attaches woman to woman, the girl
made her resolves. Her aunt said incessantly: "You must save
Edward's life; you must save his life. All that he needs is a little
period of satisfaction from you. Then he will tire of you as he has
of the others. But you must save his life.
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