“Gradually I have come to realise that, before I came back, harmony reigned at Whitewater Farms. Now, there is the slightest note of discord. I am conscious of it. I know the others are. I understand, now, it was inevitable.... I am Eris, daughter of Discord.... But for you, Eris and Eros are merged and one. I strike out the i!... Forever, Barry. I and i melt into U and you! My eyes, too. Darling! Did you ever suspect such silly wit in me?
“Your attorney writes to me occasionally. He assures me he is speeding the annulment. To me, that brief phase was vaguer than a dream of which one remembers only an indefinable discomfort.
“When it is brushed away forever I shall marry you. If children come I can’t go on acting—or only between times. Not even then, because I shan’t leave them or you;—or you, Barry—chiefly you.... I shall be a good wife and a good mother.... And you shall provide our fame.
“And I shall turn lazy, and repose in the shadow of your greatness.
“When our time has come I should like a small house in the country. Would you? A garden? Hills—breezy in spring—and a little brook in the woods—and a cow or two—for the children’s sake. Do you mind, darling?
“When I was a young girl I was inclined toward verse. Here is one effusion:
‘This is my Prophet’s Paradise to come:—
Long grass a-tremble by a little brook,
A hillside where brown bees contented hum,