"That," said he, "is a question you would scarcely ask if you had seen
the poor creature for yourself. I don't intend you to see him; he is a
rather saddening spectacle, and one of a type for which one can do
absolutely nothing permanent. And now, if you are quite satisfied, I
shall proceed, with your permission, to get rid of him in my own way."
It was seldom indeed that Steel descended to a display of sarcasm at his
wife's expense, though few people who came much in contact with him
escaped an occasional flick from a tongue that could be as bitter as it
was habitually smooth. His last words were therefore as remarkable as
his first; both were exceptions to a rule; and though Rachel moved away
without replying, feeling that there was indeed no more to be said, she
could not but dwell upon the matter in her mind. Satisfied she certainly
was not; and yet there was so much mystery between them, so many
instinctive reservations upon either side, that very little circumstance
of the kind could not carry an ulterior significance, but many must be
due to mere force of habit.
Rachel hated the condition of mutual secretiveness upon which she had
married this man; it was antagonistic to her whole nature; she longed to
repudiate it, and to abolish all secrets between them.
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