Rachel did not recognize among these
that studious consideration which she could still appreciate; it seemed
rather part of a preconceived method of treating his wife, and the wary
eye gleamed through it all. But it has been mentioned that Rachel at one
time had a voice, of which high hopes had been formed by inexperienced
judges. It was only at Normanthorpe that her second husband became aware
of her possession, one afternoon when she fancied that she had the house
to herself. So two could play at the game of consistent concealment! He
could not complain; it was in the bond, and he never said a word. But he
stood outside the window till she was done, for Rachel saw him in a
mirror, and for many an afternoon to come he would hover outside the
same window at the same time.
Why had he married her? Did he care for her, or did he not? What could
be the object of that extraordinary step? Rachel was as far from hitting
upon a feasible solution of these mysteries as she was from penetrating
the deeper one of his own past life. Sometimes she put the like
questions to herself; but they were more easily answered. She had been
in desperate straits, in reckless despair; even if her second marriage
had turned out no better than her first, she could not have been worse
off than she was on the night of her acquittal; but she had been very
well off ever since.
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