Sir Carey was silent for a moment. Then he said:
“What was this man, Leith?”
“Do you mean——?”
“Before his married life came to an end?”
“The straight, athletic, orthodox young Englishman; very sane and simple, healthily moral; not perhaps particularly religious, but full of sentiment and trust in a boyish sort of way. I remember he read Christian morals into Greek art.”
Sir Carey raised his eyebrows.
“One could sum him up by saying that he absolutely believed in and exclusively adored a strong religious, beautiful, healthy-minded and healthy-bodied Englishwoman, who has now, I believe, entered a sisterhood, or something of the kind. She colored his whole life. He saw life through her eyes, and believed through her faith. At least, I should think so.”
“Then he’s an absolutely different man from what he was.”
“The strong religious, beautiful, healthy-minded and bodied Englishwoman has condemned as a crime a mere terrible mistake. She has taken herself away from her husband and given herself to God. She cared for the child.”
Mrs. Clarke laid a curious cold emphasis on the last sentence.