She began to see that she must assert herself, but she could not see how.  Her self-confidence, which had overthrown Philip, had gradually oozed away.  If she left the strange house there was the strange little town.  If she were to disobey her husband and walk in the country, that would be stranger still—­vast slopes of olives and vineyards, with chalk-white farms, and in the distance other slopes, with more olives and more farms, and more little towns outlined against the cloudless sky.  “I don’t call this country,” she would say.  “Why, it’s not as wild as Sawston Park!” And, indeed, there was scarcely a touch of wildness in it—­some of those slopes had been under cultivation for two thousand years.  But it was terrible and mysterious all the same, and its continued presence made Lilia so uncomfortable that she forgot her nature and began to reflect.

She reflected chiefly about her marriage.  The ceremony had been hasty and expensive, and the rites, whatever they were, were not those of the Church of England.  Lilia had no religion in her; but for hours at a time she would be seized with a vulgar fear that she was not “married properly,” and that her social position in the next world might be as obscure as it was in this.  It might be safer to do the thing thoroughly, and one day she took the advice of Spiridione and joined the Roman Catholic Church, or as she called it, “Santa Deodata’s.”  Gino approved; he, too, thought it safer, and it was fun confessing, though the priest was a stupid old man, and the whole thing was a good slap in the face for the people at home.

The people at home took the slap very soberly; indeed, there were few left for her to give it to.  The Herritons were out of the question; they would not even let her write to Irma, though Irma was occasionally allowed to write to her.  Mrs. Theobald was rapidly subsiding into dotage, and, as far as she could be definite about anything, had definitely sided with the Herritons.  And Miss Abbott did likewise.  Night after night did Lilia curse this false friend, who had agreed with her that the marriage would “do,” and that the Herritons would come round to it, and then, at the first hint of opposition, had fled back to England shrieking and distraught.  Miss Abbott headed the long list of those who should never be written to, and who should never be forgiven.  Almost the only person who was not on that list was Mr. Kingcroft, who had unexpectedly sent an affectionate and inquiring letter.  He was quite sure never to cross the Channel, and Lilia drew freely on her fancy in the reply.