They have wives and homes to go to when it's
all over. But have I? You're as glad to see me as if I had
smallpox. Maybe we've made a mess of things, but married life
isn't what young girls think it is, A wife must learn to give and
take."
"I've given. What have I taken?" she asked him in a voice that
quivered.
Ed made an impatient gesture. "Oh, don't be so literal! I mean
that, since we're man and wife, it's up to you to be a little
more--broad-gauge in your views."
"In other words, you want me to ignore your conduct. Is that it?
I'm afraid we can't argue that, Ed."
Within the last few days Austin's mind had registered a number of
new impressions, and at this moment he realized that his wife was
undoubtedly the most attractive woman physically he had ever
known. Of course she was cold, but she had not always been so. He
had chilled her; he had seen the fire die year by year, but now
the memory of her as she had once been swept over him, bringing a
renewed appreciation of her charms. His recent dissipation had
told upon him as heavily as a siege of sickness, and this evening
he was in that fatuous, sentimental mood which comes with
convalescence, Having no fault to find with himself, and feeling
merely a selfish desire to make more pleasant his life at Las
Palmas, he undertook to bend Alaire to his will.
Pages:
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355