He was thinking how much of what Estelle Monks had said applied to his own marriage. What a mockery it was, and what right had two human beings who were driven apart by every personal antipathy—physical, mental and spiritual—to go on, bound by a convention, preventing each other from seeking happiness elsewhere? And, remembering her attack on marriage as the slavery of woman, he thought bitterly that she had expressed only half the truth. He was, indeed, neither married nor a free man, checked in every impulse, denied at every turn.
"What are you frowning about?" said Dodo.
He answered hastily in that language which, as has been said, was given us to conceal our thoughts:
"I was wondering how much she had affected you!"
"Not the least!" said Dodo, adding impulsively: "And yet, that is just what I feel!"
"You, Dodo?" he said anxiously.
She went to him with a sudden enthusiasm, taking his hands, perhaps subconsciously divining the bitter personal reflection that had been going on in his mind, feeling the moment to be propitious.
"Ah, let me tell you now what I want for us!" she began ardently.
"The great dream, Dodo?" he said, smiling.
"Yes, a dream, but a dream that will come true!" She hesitated, and standing before him, her eyes lighted up by the penetration of a woman, a glance that left him confused, she said directly: "You think you understand me? You don't; but I understand you! You are afraid of me! You love me, but you try not to, because you are afraid of me!"