 Heaven that for him the purity of religious
conviction had never been endangered by the learning that leads astray; he was
proud of possessing a young and handsome wife, and for the first time evoked in
her a personal vanity. Day by day was it - most needlessly - impressed upon
Miriam that she must regard herself as the chief lady in Bartles, and omit no
duty appertaining to such a position. She had an example to set; she was chosen
as a support of religion.
    Most happily, the man died. Had he remained her consort for ten years, the
story of Miriam's life would have been one of those that will scarcely bear
dwelling upon, too repulsive, too heart-breaking; a few words of bitterness, of
ruth, and there were an end of it. His death was like the removal of a foul
burden that polluted her and gradually dragged her down. Nor was it long before
she herself understood it in this way, though dimly and uncertainly. She found
herself looking on things with eyes which somehow had a changed power of vision.
With remarkable abruptness, certain of her habits fell from her, and she
remembered them only with distaste, even with disgust. And one day she said to
herself passionately that never would she wed again - never, never! She was
experiencing for the first time in her life a form of liberty.
    Not that her faith had received any shock. To her undeveloped mind every
tenet in which she had been instructed was still valid. This is the point to
note. Her creed was a habit of the intellect; she held it as she did the
knowledge of the motions of the earth. She had never reflected upon it, for in
everything she heard or read this intellectual basis was presupposed. With
doctrinal differences her reasoning faculty was familiar, and with her to think
of religion was to think of the points at issue between one church and another -
always, moreover, with pre-judgment in favour of her own.
    But the external results of her liberty began to be of importance. She came
into frequent connection with her cousin Eleanor; she saw more than hitherto of
the Brad-shaws' family life; she had business transactions; she read newspapers;
she progressed slowly towards some practical acquaintance with the world.
    Miriam knew the very moment when the thought of making great sacrifices to
build a new chapel for Bartles had first entered her mind. One of her girl
friends had just married, and was come to live in the neighbourhood. The
husband, Welland by name, was wealthier and of more social importance
