Other
pictures--he was walking very fast in his irritation, and they
came before him without any conscious effort, like pictures on a
sheet--succeeded these. Here were the worn husband and wife sitting with
their children round them, very patient, tolerant, and wise. But that
too, was an unpleasant picture. He tried all sorts of pictures, taking
them from the lives of friends of his, for he knew many different
married couples; but he saw them always, walled up in a warm firelit
room. When, on the other hand, he began to think of unmarried people, he
saw them active in an unlimited world; above all, standing on the
same ground as the rest, without shelter or advantage. All the most
individual and humane of his friends were bachelors and spinsters;
indeed he was surprised to find that the women he most admired and knew
best were unmarried women. Marriage seemed to be worse for them than
it was for men. Leaving these general pictures he considered the people
whom he had been observing lately at the hotel. He had often revolved
these questions in his mind, as he watched Susan and Arthur, or Mr.
and Mrs. Thornbury, or Mr. and Mrs. Elliot. He had observed how the shy
happiness and surprise of the engaged couple had gradually been replaced
by a comfortable, tolerant state of mind, as if they had already done
with the adventure of intimacy and were taking up their parts.
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