From the moment in
which the thing had been done she had found that the man to whom she
had bound herself was odious to her, and that the life before her was
distasteful to her. Things which before had seemed worthy to her,
and full at any rate of interest, became at once dull and vapid. Her
husband was in Parliament, as also had been her father, and many of
her friends,--and, by weight of his own character and her influence,
was himself placed high in office; but in his house politics lost all
the flavour which they had possessed for her in Portman Square. She
had thought that she could at any rate do her duty as the mistress
of a great household, and as the benevolent lady of a great estate;
but household duties under the tutelage of Mr. Kennedy had been
impossible to her, and that part of a Scotch Lady Bountiful which she
had intended to play seemed to be denied to her. The whole structure
had fallen to the ground, and nothing had been left to her.
But she would not sin. Though she could not bring herself to love her
husband, she would at any rate be strong enough to get rid of that
other love.
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