"Hardly anything," said Lilia and crossed herself also.Thus did the two women pay homage to their outraged male.
It was clear to Lilia at last that Gino had married her for money.But he had frightened her too much to leave any place for contempt.His return was terrifying, for he was frightened too, imploring her pardon, lying at her feet, embracing her, murmuring "It was not I," striving to define things which he did not understand.He stopped in the house for three days, positively ill with physical collapse.
But for all his suffering he had tamed her, and she never threatened to cut off supplies again.
Perhaps he kept her even closer than convention demanded.But he was very young, and he could not bear it to be said of him that he did not know how to treat a lady--or to manage a wife.
And his own social position was uncertain.Even in England a dentist is a troublesome creature, whom careful people find difficult to class.
He hovers between the professions and the trades; he may be only a little lower than the doctors, or he may be down among the chemists, or even beneath them.The son of the Italian dentist felt this too.For himself nothing mattered; he made friends with the people he liked, for he was that glorious invariable creature, a man.But his wife should visit nowhere rather than visit wrongly: seclusion was both decent and safe.
The social ideals of North and South had had their brief contention, and this time the South had won.
It would have been well if he had been as strict over his own behaviour as he was over hers.But the incongruity never occurred to him for a moment.His morality was that of the average Latin, and as he was suddenly placed in the position of a gentleman, he did not see why he should not behave as such.Of course, had Lilia been different--had she asserted herself and got a grip on his character--he might possibly--though not probably--have been made a better husband as well as a better man, and at all events he could have adopted the attitude of the Englishman, whose standard is higher even when his practice is the same.But had Lilia been different she might not have married him.
The discovery of his infidelity--which she made by accident--destroyed such remnants of self-satisfaction as her life might yet possess.She broke down utterly and sobbed and cried in Perfetta's arms.Perfetta was kind and even sympathetic, but cautioned her on no account to speak to Gino, who would be furious if he was suspected.
And Lilia agreed, partly because she was afraid of him, partly because it was, after all, the best and most dignified thing to do.She had given up everything for him--her daughter, her relatives, her friends, all the little comforts and luxuries of a civilized life--and even if she had the courage to break away, there was no one who would receive her now.
The Herritons had been almost malignant in their efforts against her, and all her friends had one by one fallen off.So it was better to live on humbly, trying not to feel, endeavouring by a cheerful demeanour to put things right."Perhaps," she thought, "if I have a child he will be different.I know he wants a son."Lilia had achieved pathos despite herself, for there are some situations in which vulgarity counts no longer.Not Cordelia nor Imogen more deserves our tears.
She herself cried frequently, making herself look plain and old, which distressed her husband.He was particularly kind to her when he hardly ever saw her, and she accepted his kindness without resentment, even with gratitude, so docile had she become.
She did not hate him, even as she had never loved him; with her it was only when she was excited that the semblance of either passion arose.
People said she was headstrong, but really her weak brain left her cold.
Suffering, however, is more independent of temperament, and the wisest of women could hardly have suffered more.
As for Gino, he was quite as boyish as ever, and carried his iniquities like a feather.A favourite speech of his was, "Ah, one ought to marry! Spiridione is wrong; I must persuade him.Not till marriage does one realize the pleasures and the possibilities of life." So saying, he would take down his felt hat, strike it in the right place as infallibly as a German strikes his in the wrong place, and leave her.
One evening, when he had gone out thus, Lilia could stand it no longer.It was September.Sawston would be just filling up after the summer holidays.People would be running in and out of each other's houses all along the road.There were bicycle gymkhanas, and on the 30th Mrs.Herriton would be holding the annual bazaar in her garden for the C.M.S.It seemed impossible that such a free, happy life could exist.She walked out on to the loggia.Moonlight and stars in a soft purple sky.The walls of Monteriano should be glorious on such a night as this.But the house faced away from them.
Perfetta was banging in the kitchen, and the stairs down led past the kitchen door.But the stairs up to the attic--the stairs no one ever used--opened out of the living-room, and by unlocking the door at the top one might slip out to the square terrace above the house, and thus for ten minutes walk in freedom and peace.
The key was in the pocket of Gino's best suit--the English check--which he never wore.The stairs creaked and the key-hole screamed; but Perfetta was growing deaf.The walls were beautiful, but as they faced west they were in shadow.To see the light upon them she must walk round the town a little, till they were caught by the beams of the rising moon.She looked anxiously at the house, and started.
