This
did not please Geoffrey; it is one thing (in her own interests, of
course) to make up your mind heroically to abandon a lady whom you do
not wish to compromise, and quite another to be snubbed by that lady
before the moment of final separation. Though he never put the idea into
words or even defined it in his mind--for Geoffrey was far too anxious
and unhappy to be flippant, at any rate in thought--he would at heart
have wished her to remain the same, indeed to wax ever tenderer, till
the fatal time of parting arrived, and even to show appreciation of his
virtuous conduct.
But to the utter destruction of most such hands as Geoffrey held, loving
women never will play according to the book. Their conduct imperils
everything, for it is obvious that it takes two to bring an affair of
this nature to a dignified conclusion, even when the stakes are highest,
and the matter is one of life and death. Beatrice after all was very
much of a woman, and she did not behave much better than any other woman
would have done. She was angry and suspicious, and she showed it,
with the result that Geoffrey grew angry also.
Pages:
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355