"No, that is, he doesn't beat me or anything of that sort. He isn't coarse. But there's a refined sort of cruelty that hurts worse. I--I couldn't bear it any longer, and so I came away."
"Was he willing for you to come?"
"I didn't ask him. I just came."
Madame's glasses dropped from her aristocratic nose in astonishment. "Why, my dear Mrs. Lee! How could you!"
"Edith, please, if you will," she answered, wiping her eyes. Then she laughed bitterly. "Don't be kind to me, for I'm not used to it and it weakens my armour of self-defence. Tell me I'm horrid and have done with it."
"Poor child," breathed Madame. "Poor, dear child!"
For a few moments the young woman bit her lips, keeping back the tears by evident effort. Then, having gained her self-control, she went on.
"I'm twenty-eight, now," she said. "I remember mother used to say she always had her suspicions of a woman who was willing to tell the truth about her age."
"Sounds just like her," commented Madame, taking up a dainty lavender silk stocking that had "run down" from the hem.
"I've been married six years, but it seems like twenty. Almost from the first, there has been friction between us, but nobody knows it, except you--unless he's told his friends, and I don't think he'd do that. We've both had a preference for doing the family laundry work on the premises."
Marital Troubles
"What?" queried Madame, missing the allusion.
"Not washing our soiled linen in public," Edith explained. "While I live with my husband as his wife, we stand together before the world as far as it is in my power to manage it. I do not intentionally criticise him to anyone, nor permit anyone to criticise him. I endeavour to look ahead, protect him against his own weakness or folly, and, as far as a woman's tact and thought may do, shield him from the consequences of his own mistakes. I lie for him whenever necessary or even advisable. I have tried to be, for six years, shelter, strength, comfort, courage. And," she concluded bitterly, "I've failed."
"How so?"
"We live in the same house, but alien and apart. We talk at the table as two strangers might in a crowded restaurant or hotel, that is, when he's there. I dare not ask people to dinner, for I never know whether he's coming or not. He might promise faithfully to come, and then appear at midnight, without apology or excuse."