*
About this time, Mavis saw a good deal of Perigal. He rented from
her husband the farm that Harold had purchased soon after his
marriage, and in which he had purposed living. Perigal had long
since spent the ten thousand pounds he had inherited from his
mother; he was now living on the four hundred a year his wife
possessed. If anything, Mavis encouraged his frequent visits; his
illuminating comments on men and things took her out of herself;
also, if the truth be told, Mavis's heart held resentment against
the man who had played so considerable a part in her life. Whenever
Mavis was in London, the sight of a fallen woman always fed this
dislike; she reflected that, but for the timely help she had
enjoyed, she might have been driven to a like means of getting money
if her child had been in want. Another thing that urged her against
Perigal was that she constantly noticed how negligently many of the
married women of her acquaintance interpreted their wifely duties,
and, in most cases, to husbands who had dowered their mates with
affection and worldly goods. She reflected that, by all the laws of
justice, Perigal should have appreciated to the full the treasure of
love and passion which she had poured out so lavishly at his feet.
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