There came a look of raillery on his white face, and Athena again told herself that he was very cruel—cruel and heartless.
"The wife, I repeat, goes out into the world unsullied, ready, if so the fancy takes her, to become another man's bride—his wife in reality as well as in name."
He looked at her significantly, and added, more lightly, "The world has become more liberal since the days of my youth. I am sure there will be great sympathy felt for you, Athena. Such a marriage as ours is in truth a monstrous thing. I did not need Jane to tell me that, though it was odd of Jane to have thought of it."
There came over him a terrible feeling of lassitude. "And now I'm afraid I must ask you to help me to get back to my room."
This punishment he put on himself. He must not be met coming out of his wife's room alone.
"Of course!" she cried eagerly. "You know I would have done much more for you—I mean since you became ill—if you had only allowed it! But Dick was always jealous—Dick has always hated me!"
"Surely not always?" he said mildly.
"Yes, always!"
He would not take her arm, or lean on her. She simply walked by his side, her mind in a whirl of amazement, of gratitude, of almost hysterical excitement, till he dismissed her, curtly, at his door.