The fear has become a certainty. The wife reasons with her husband as
they walk together. "He wanted her love, and she gave it to him. He has
it, and yet is not content. Why so? She is not blind to his faults, but
she does not love him the less for them. She has taken him as he was,
with the good seed in him and the bad, waiting patiently for the good to
bring its harvest; enduring patiently when the harvest failed. Whether
praiseworthy or blameworthy, he has been her world!"
"That is what condemns her in his eyes: she loves too well; she watches
too patiently. His nature is impatient of bondage. Such devotion as hers
is a bond."