rs, Bertha married
Percy Kellynch, to the great satisfaction of her relations. Nigel was,
by then, a lost illusion, a disappointed ideal; she did not long resent
his defection and it cured her passion, but she despised him for what
she regarded as the baseness of his motive.

She loved and looked up to Percy, but her marriage to him had not been
at the time one of romance--to her great regret. She would have liked it
to be, for she was one of those ardent souls to whom the glamour of love
was everything; she could never worship false gods. But Bertha had a
warm, grateful nature, and finding him even better than she expected,
her affection threw out roots and tendrils; became deeper and deeper;
her experience with Nigel had made her particularly appreciative of
Percy's good qualities. She was expansive, affectionate and constant;
and she really cared far more about Percy now than she did when she
married him. And this, though she was quite aware that he was entirely
wanting in several things that she had particularly valued in Nigel (a
sense of humour for one), and that he had inherited rather acutely the
depressing Kellynch characteristic of taking oneself seriously.

* * * * *

Percy, on the other hand, had been quite carried away by her rosebud
charm and prettiness, and he had continued to regard her as a pet and a
luxury (for he was pre-eminently one of that large class of people who
see only the obvious). But he had never realised her complexities, and
was quite unaware of her depth and strength of mind. He was proud of her
popularity, and had never known a jealous moment. Since they had never
had a shadow of a quarrel, theirs might certainly be described as a
happy marriage; although Bertha had always found it from the first
rather deficient in the elements of excitement and a little wanting in
fun.

* * * * *

Nigel, who had been in a frightful hole when he met the heiress, of
course made a point of discovering, as soon as all grinding money
troubles had been removed and agonising debts paid, that no material
things were capable of making him happy. The gratification to his vanity
of his big country house, and charming house in London and so forth,
amused him for a very short time. He became horribly bored, and when
Bertha married Percy Kellynch, felt pained and particularly surprised
and disappointed in her. He had always believed her to be so sup