,
making allowance, of course, for the weakness of women in affairs such
as this. He might admit that she would 'fret,' but the thought of
her fretting did not affect him as a reality. Emma had never been
demonstrative, had never sought to show him all that was in her heart;
hence he rated her devotion lightly.

The opinion of those who knew him! What of the opinion of Emma herself?
Yes, that went for much; he knew shame at the thought, perhaps keener
shame than in anticipating the judgment, say, of Daniel Dabbs. No one of
his acquaintances thought of him so highly as Emma did; to see himself
dethroned, the object of her contempt, was a bitter pill to swallow. In
all that concerned his own dignity Richard was keenly appreciative; he
felt in advance every pricking of the blood that was in store for him
if he became guilty of this treachery. Yes, from that point of view he
feared Emma Vine.

Considerations of larger scope did not come within the purview of his
intellect. It never occurred to him, for instance, that in forfeiting
his honour in this instance he began a process of undermining which
would sooner or later threaten the stability of the purposes on which he
most prided himself. A suggestion that domestic perfidy was in the end
incompatible with public zeal would have seemed to him ridiculous, and
for the simple reason that he recognised no 'moral sanctions. He could
not regard his nature as a whole; he had no understanding for the subtle
network of communication between its various parts. Nay, he told himself
that the genuineness and value of his life's work would be increased by
a marriage with Adela Waltham; he and she would represent the union of
classes--of the wage-earning with the _bourgeois_, between which two lay
the real gist of the combat. He thought of this frequently, and allowed
the thought to inspirit him.

To the question of whether Adela would ever find out what he had done,
and, if so, with what result, he gave scarcely a moment. Marriages are
not undone by subsequent discovery of moral faults on either side.

This is a tabular exposition of the man's consciousness. Logically,
there should result from it a self-possessed state of mind, bordering
on cynicism. But logic was not predominant in Mutimer's constitution. So
far from contemplating treason with the calm intelligence which demands
judgment on other grounds than the common, he was in reality possessed
by a spirit of perturbation. Such