a one as Colonel Osborne. And even were he to consent to do this,
how could he explain it all to that very wife for whose sake he
would do it? If she got a hint of the reason she would, he did not
doubt, refuse to go. As he thought of it, and as that visit upstairs
prolonged itself, he almost thought it would be best for him to be
round with her! We all know what a husband means when he resolves
to be round with his wife. He began to think that he would not
apologise at all for the words he had spoken but would speak them
again somewhat more sharply than before. She would be very wrathful
with him; there would be a silent enduring indignation, which,
as he understood well, would be infinitely worse than any torrent
of words. But was he, a man, to abstain from doing that which he
believed to be his duty because he was afraid of his wife's anger?
Should he be deterred from saying that which he conceived it would
be right that he should say, because she was stiff-necked? No. He
would not apologise, but would tell her again that it was necessary,
both for his happiness and for hers, that all intimacy with Colonel
Osborne should be discontinued.

He was brought to this strongly marital resolution by the length
of the man's present visit; by that and by the fact that, during
the latter portion of it, his wife was alone with Colonel Osborne.
Nora had been there when the man came, but Mrs Fairfax had called,
not getting out of her carriage, and Nora had been constrained to
go down to her. She had hesitated a moment, and Colonel Osborne
had observed and partly understood the hesitation. When he saw it,
had he been perfectly well-minded in the matter, he would have gone
too. But he probably told himself that Nora Rowley was a fool, and
that in such matters it was quite enough for a man to know that he
did not intend any harm.