But, nevertheless,
she had loved him. To her he had been, though not heroic,
sufficiently a man to win her heart. He was a gentleman,
pleasant-mannered, pleasant to look at, pleasant to talk to, not
educated in the high sense of the word, but never making himself
ridiculous by ignorance. He was the very antipodes of a Spooner, and
he was,--or rather had been,--her lover. She did not wish to change.
She did not recognise the possibility of changing. Though she had
told him that he might go if he pleased, to her his going would be
the loss of everything. What would life be without a lover,--without
the prospect of marriage? And there could be no other lover. There
could be no further prospect should he take her at her word.
Of all this Lord Chiltern understood nothing, but Lady Chiltern
understood it all. To his thinking the young man had behaved so badly
that it was incumbent on them all to send him away and so have done
with him. If the young man wanted to quarrel with any one, there was
he to be quarrelled with.
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