She heard me, and took it
seriously. She thought me a man of God. I failed absolutely, and so badly
that by rights I ought never to have held up my head again. But she is
happy, dear little soul, after her own peculiar fashion,--which she never
could have been with me. She writes to me now and then. The man, her
husband, is her master, but not a bad one. She knows it, and glories in
him. Isn't that extraordinary?"
"Not at all," Glyde said, who knew nothing of Mary. "It's a law of Nature.
The woman follows the man. I suppose you treated her as an equal?"
"No, as a superior, which she plainly was," said Senhouse.
"Then," Glyde said, looking at him, "then you made her so. If you fly
against Nature, you must get the worst of it." He waited, then asked,
"It's against your principles to marry a woman, no doubt."
"Quite," Senhouse said. "It seems to me an insult to propose it to her."
"Your Mary didn't think so."
"She did at first; but she couldn't get used to it."
"She felt naked without the ring? And ashamed?"
"God help me," said Senhouse, "that's true. The moment I realised what had
happened, I gave in."
"And then she refused?"
"She neither accepted nor refused.
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