Yes,« he exclaimed, »it is you who have done most towards it!«
    »By what act? what word?« she asked, in astonishment.
    »By all your acts and words for the year past, and longer. You had
practically abandoned me long before you went abroad. When you discovered that I
was not everything you imagined, when you found faults and weaknesses in me, you
began to draw away, to be cold and indifferent, to lose all interest in whatever
I did or wished to do. When I was working, you showed plainly that you had no
faith in my powers; it soon cost you an effort even to listen to me when I
talked on the subject. I looked to you for help, and I found none. Could I say
anything? The help had to come spontaneously, or it was no use. Then you gave
yourself up entirely to the child; you were glad of that excuse for keeping out
of my way. If I was away from home for a day or two, you didn't even care to ask
what I had been doing; that was what proved to me how completely indifferent you
had become. And when you went abroad, what a pretence it was to ask me to come
with you! I knew quite well that you had much rather be without me. And how did
you suppose I should live during your absence? You never thought about it, never
cared to think. Don't imagine I am blaming you. Everything was at an end between
us, and which of us could help it? But it is as well to show you that I am not
the cause of all that has happened. You have no justification whatever for this
tone of offence. It is foolish, childish, unworthy of a woman who claims to
think for herself.«
    Cecily listened with strange sensations. She knew that all this had nothing
to do with the immediate point at issue, and that it only emphasized the want of
nobility in Reuben's character, but, as he proceeded, there was so much truth in
what he attributed to her that, in spite of everything, she could not resist a
feeling of culpability. However little it really signified to her husband, it
was undoubtedly true that she had made no effort with herself when she became
conscious of indifference towards him. To preserve love was not in her power,
but was he not right in saying that she might have done more, as a wife, to
supply his defects? Knowing him weak, should she not have
