He Knew He Was Right | Page 7

had gone upstairs.
He put down his pen, and clenched his fist, and allowed a black frown
to settle upon his brow. 'What right had the man to come there, unasked
by him, and disturb his happiness? And then this poor wife of his, who
knew so little of English life, who had lived in the Mandarin Islands
almost since she had been a child, who had lived in one colony or
another almost since she had been born, who had had so few of those
advantages for which he should have looked in marrying a wife, how
was the poor girl to conduct herself properly when subjected to the arts
and practised villanies of this viper? And yet the poor girl was so stiff
in her temper, had picked up such a trick of obstinacy in those tropical
regions, that Louis Trevelyan felt that he did not know how to manage
her. He too had heard how Jane Marriott had been carried off to Naples
after she had become Mrs Poole. Must he too carry off his wife to
Naples in order to place her out of the reach of this hyena? It was
terrible to him to think that he must pack up everything and run away
from such a one as Colonel Osborne. And even were he to consent to
do this, how could he explain it all to that very wife for whose sake he
would do it? If she got a hint of the reason she would, he did not doubt,
refuse to go. As he thought of it, and as that visit upstairs prolonged
itself, he almost thought it would be best for him to be round with her!
We all know what a husband means when he resolves to be round with
his wife. He began to think that he would not apologise at all for the
words he had spoken but would speak them again somewhat more
sharply than before. She would be very wrathful with him; there would

be a silent enduring indignation, which, as he understood well, would
be infinitely worse than any torrent of words. But was he, a man, to
abstain from doing that which he believed to be his duty because he
was afraid of his wife's anger? Should he be deterred from saying that
which he conceived it would be right that he should say, because she
was stiff-necked? No. He would not apologise, but would tell her again
that it was necessary, both for his happiness and for hers, that all
intimacy with Colonel Osborne should be discontinued.
He was brought to this strongly marital resolution by the length of the
man's present visit; by that and by the fact that, during the latter portion
of it, his wife was alone with Colonel Osborne. Nora had been there
when the man came, but Mrs Fairfax had called, not getting out of her
carriage, and Nora had been constrained to go down to her. She had
hesitated a moment, and Colonel Osborne had observed and partly
understood the hesitation. When he saw it, had he been perfectly
well-minded in the matter, he would have gone too. But he probably
told himself that Nora Rowley was a fool, and that in such matters it
was quite enough for a man to know that he did not intend any harm.
'You had better go down, Nora,' said Mrs Trevelyan; 'Mrs Fairfax will
be ever so angry if you keep her waiting.'
Then Nora had gone and the two were alone together. Nora had gone,
and Trevelyan had heard her as she was going and knew that Colonel
Osborne was alone with his wife.
'If you can manage that it will be so nice,' said Mrs Trevelyan,
continuing the conversation.
'My dear Emily,' he said, 'you must not talk of my managing it, or you
will spoil it all.'
He had called them both Emily and Nora when Sir Marmaduke and
Lady Rowley were with them before the marriage, and, taking the
liberty of a very old family friend, had continued the practice. Mrs
Trevelyan was quite aware that she had been so called by him in the
presence of her husband and that her husband had not objected. But that

was now some months ago, before baby was born; and she was aware
also that he had not called her so latterly in presence of her husband.
She thoroughly wished that she knew how to ask him not to do so again;
but the matter was very difficult, as she could not make such a request
without betraying some fear on her husband's part. The subject which
they were now discussing was too important to her to allow her to
dwell upon this trouble at the moment, and so she