 it fatal. His marriage would be a mere piece of
bitter irony if they could not go on loving each other. He had long ago made up
his mind to what he thought was her negative character - her want of
sensibility, which showed itself in disregard both of his specific wishes and of
his general aims. The first great disappointment had been borne: the tender
devotedness and docile adoration of the ideal wife must be renounced, and life
must be taken up on a lower stage of expectation, as it is by men who have lost
their limbs. But the real wife had not only her claims, she had still a hold on
his heart, and it was his intense desire that the hold should remain strong. In
marriage, the certainty, »She will never love me much,« is easier to bear than
the fear, »I shall love her no more.« Hence, after that outburst, his inward
effort was entirely to excuse her, and to blame the hard circumstances which
were partly his fault. He tried that evening, by petting her, to heal the wound
he had made in the morning, and it was not in Rosamond's nature to be repellent
or sulky; indeed, she welcomed the signs that her husband loved her and was
under control. But this was something quite distinct from loving him.
    Lydgate would not have chosen soon to recur to the plan of parting with the
house; he was resolved to carry it out, and say as little more about it as
possible. But Rosamond herself touched on it at breakfast by saying, mildly -
    »Have you spoken to Trumbull yet?«
    »No,« said Lydgate, »but I shall call on him as I go by this morning. No
time must be lost.« He took Rosamond's question as a sign that she withdrew her
inward opposition, and kissed her head caressingly when he got up to go away.
    As soon as it was late enough to make a call, Rosamond went to Mrs.
Plymdale, Mr. Ned's mother, and entered with pretty congratulations into the
subject of the coming marriage. Mrs. Plymdale's maternal view was, that Rosamond
might possibly now have retrospective glimpses of her own folly; and feeling the
advantages to be at present all on the side of her son, was too kind a woman not
to behave graciously.
    »Yes, Ned is most happy, I must say. And Sophy Toller is all I could desire
in a daughter-in-law. Of course her father is able to do something handsome for
her
