from an unwonted sense of impotence, and ends in tolerance, the
intermediate step being admiration. It is the primeval curse that a
woman's choice is to her husband; and it is an important part of the
teaching of a British gentlewoman, knit in the very fibres of her
being by the remorseless etiquette of a thousand years, that she be
true to him. The man who has in his person the necessary powers or
graces to evoke admiration in his wife, even for a passing moment,
has a stronghold unconquerable as a rule by all the deadliest arts of
mankind.

Leonard Everard was certainly good to look upon as he lolled at his
ease on that summer morning. Tall, straight, supple; a typical
British gentleman of the educated class, with all parts of the body
properly developed and held in some kind of suitable poise.

As Stephen looked, the anxiety and chagrin which tormented her seemed
to pass. She realised that here was a nature different from her own,
and which should be dealt with in a way unsuitable to herself; and
the conviction seemed to make the action which it necessitated more
easy as well as more natural to her. Perhaps for the first time in
her life Stephen understood that it may be necessary to apply to
individuals a standard of criticism unsuitable to self-judgment. Her
recognition might have been summed up in the thought which ran
through her mind:

'One must be a little lenient with a man one loves!'

Stephen, when once she had allowed the spirit of toleration to work
within her, felt immediately its calming influence. It was with
brighter thoughts and better humour that she went on with her task.