double passion. Some people
(in parenthesis, the lucky ones!) have characters so simple, so direct,
so steadfast, so very peaceful. Their soul is not torn asunder, first
this way, then that, perfectly sincere in all its varying moods, though
the mood changes like the passing seasons. Once having liked a thing,
they like it always, and the opposite has no attraction for them.
These people are, as it were, born husbands and born wives. They are
faithful, though their fidelity may not be exciting. This type could
hardly love two people, though they are quite capable of loving twice.
As individuals they are to be envied, because for them the inner life
is one of simplicity and peace. But there are other people who, as it
were, seem to be born _two people_. They are capable of infinite
goodness; also they are capable of the most profound baseness. And
never, never, never are they happy. For the good that is in them
suffers for the bad, and the bad also suffers, since it knows that it
is unworthy. So their inner life is one long struggle to attain that
ideal of perfection which they prize more than anything else in the
world, but are incapable of reaching--or, rather, they are incapable of
_sustaining_--because, within their natures, there is a "kink" which
always thwarts their good endeavour. Thus for ever do they suffer,
since within their souls there is a perpetual warfare between the good
which is within them and the bad. These people, I say, can love two
people at the same time, since two different people seem to inhabit the
same body, and both yearn to be satisfied; both _must_ be satisfied at
some time or another. The Good within them will always triumph
eventually, even though the Bad must have its day. But do not blame
these people. They suffer far more than anyone can suspect. They
suffer, and only with old age or death does peace come to them. If
there are people born to be unhappy in this world, they are surely in
the forefront of that tragic army!

_The Two Passions_

Yet these people, as I said before, _must be married_ to one of the two
Adored, if their sentiment for each can be called Love. Love, in which
passion plays the larger part, is so all-absorbing while it lasts, that
only the deep affection and respect which may come through the intimacy
of matrimony can exist within the self-same heart great enough to be
called Love. A man may adore and worship the woman who has proved
hers