It had lasted, so far,
but three days, a much shorter time than he had often, before, passed
without seeing Odette, and without having, as on this occasion he had,
premeditated a separation. And yet, there and then, some tiny trace of
contrariety in his mind, or of weakness in his body,--by inciting him to
regard the present as an exceptional moment, one not to be governed by the
rules, one in which prudence itself would allow him to take advantage of
the soothing effects of a pleasure and to give his will (until the time
should come when its efforts might serve any purpose) a holiday--suspended
the action of his will, which ceased to exert its inhibitive control; or,
without that even, the thought of some information for which he had
forgotten to ask Odette, such as if she had decided in what colour she
would have her carriage repainted, or, with regard to some investment,
whether they were 'ordinary' or 'preference' shares that she wished him to
buy (for it was all very well to shew her that he could live without
seeing her, but if, after that, the carriage had to be painted over again,
if the shares produced no dividend, a fine lot of good he would have
done),--and suddenly, like a stretched piece of elastic which is let go,
or the air in a pneumatic machine which is ripped open, the idea of seeing
her again, from the remote point in time to which it had been attached,
sprang back into the field of the present and of immediate possibilities.
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