“All right, my girl!  All right!” he said to himself, when she had gone, pulling together his self-esteem, his self-pity, and his masculinity.  “You’ll regret this.  You see if you don’t.  As to leaving the house, we shall see who’ll leave the house.  Wait till I’m on my legs again.  If there is to be a scandal, there shall be a scandal.”

One thing was absolutely sure—­he could not and would not endure her contumely, nor even her indifferent scorn.  For him to live with it would be ridiculous as well as impossible.  He was weak, but two facts gave him enormous strength.  First, he loved her less than she loved him, and hence she was at a disadvantage.  But supposing her passion for him was destroyed?  Then the second fact came into play.  He had money.  He had thousands of pounds, loose, available!  To such a nature as his the control of money gives a sense of everlasting security.  Already he dreamt of freedom, of roaming the wide world, subject to no yoke but a bachelor’s whim.

CHAPTER XIV

THE MARKET

I

Rachel thought she understood all Louis’ mental processes.  With the tragic self-confidence of the inexperienced wife, she was convinced that she had nothing to learn about the secret soul of the stranger to whom she had utterly surrendered herself, reserving from him naught of the maiden.  Each fresh revelation of him she imagined to be final, completing her studies.  In fact, it would have taken at least ten years of marriage to prove to her that a perception of ignorance is the summit of knowledge.  She had not even realized that human nature is chiefly made up of illogical and absurd contradictions.  Thus she left the house that Saturday morning gloomy, perhaps hopeless, certainly quite undecided as to the future, but serene, sure of her immediate position, and sure that Louis would act like Louis.  She knew that she had the upper hand, both physically and morally.  The doctor had called and done his work, and given a very reassuring report.  She left Louis to Mrs. Tams, as was entirely justifiable, merely informing him that she had necessary errands, and even this information she gave through her veil, a demure contrivance which she had adapted for the first time on her honeymoon.  It was his role to accept her august decisions.

The forenoon was better than the dawn.  The sun had emerged; the moisture had nearly disappeared, except in the road; and the impulse of spring was moving in the trees and in the bodies of young women; the sky showed a virginal blue; the wandering clouds were milky and rounded, the breeze infinitely soft.  It seemed to be in an earlier age that the dark colliers had silently climbed the steep of Bycars Lane amid the dankness and that the first column of smoke had risen forlornly from the chimney.