“I don’t think you ought to ask me such questions. I would rather not interfere,” I said feebly. I knew it was feeble, but it is a very, very delicate business to interfere between husband and wife, and moreover the blame seemed fairly evenly divided. The Vicar had undoubtedly made a mistake in marrying a young girl for her beauty and charm, without considering if she were a true helpmeet for his life’s work. Delphine had undoubtedly made a mistake in “never thinking” of her future as a clergyman’s wife; and now he was blindly expecting a miraculous transformation of the butterfly into a drone, while the butterfly was poising her wings, impatient for flight. I sat silent, and Delphine said pettishly:—
“I don’t ask you to interfere. Only to sympathise. Is this a life for a girl of my age?”
“It depends entirely upon the girl and her ideas of ‘life’. Some girls would—”
“What?”
“Love what you call ‘parish’. Find in it her greatest interest.”
She stared at me, the colour slowly mounting to her face. Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Yes, I know. If I were good, and really cared! Evelyn, I am going to confess something dreadful. At home, when I had no responsibility, I cared far more than I do now. I thought it would be the other way about, but the feeling that I must do things, must go to meetings and committees, must go to church for all the services, makes me feel that I’d rather not! I daren’t say so to Jacky. He’d be so grieved. I’m grieved myself. I daren’t tell anyone but you. Do you think any clergyman’s wife ever felt the same before?”
I laughed.
“I’m sure of it! Thousands of them. It’s not right to expect a clergyman’s wife to be an unpaid curate—plus a housekeeper, and it needs special grace to stand a succession of committees. How would it be to drop some of the most boring duties and concentrate upon the things that you could do with all your heart? You’d be happier, and would do more good!”
“Do you think I should?” She clutched eagerly at the suggestion. “Really, I believe you are right. As you say, I have not the strength to play the part of an unpaid curate.”