wasted. I ought to
have a place in the society of clever people. I was never meant to live
quietly in the background. Oh, if I hadn't been in such a hurry, and so
inexperienced!'

'Oh, I wanted to ask you,' said Edith, soon after this. 'Do you wish
Albert to say anything about you--at the hospital?'

'There's no reason why he shouldn't.'

'You won't even write to say--?'

'I shall do nothing.'

Since the parting from her husband, there had proceeded in Amy
a noticeable maturing of intellect. Probably the one thing was a
consequence of the other. During that last year in the flat her mind
was held captive by material cares, and this arrest of her natural
development doubtless had much to do with the appearance of acerbity
in a character which had displayed so much sweetness, so much womanly
grace. Moreover, it was arrest at a critical point. When she fell in
love with Edwin Reardon her mind had still to undergo the culture of
circumstances; though a woman in years she had seen nothing of life but
a few phases of artificial society, and her education had not progressed
beyond the final schoolgirl stage. Submitting herself to Reardon's
influence, she passed through what was a highly useful training of the
intellect; but with the result that she became clearly conscious of the
divergence between herself and her husband. In endeavouring to imbue her
with his own literary tastes, Reardon instructed Amy as to the natural
tendencies of her mind, which till then she had not clearly understood.
When she ceased to read with the eyes of passion, most of the things
which were Reardon's supreme interests lost their value for her. A sound
intelligence enabled her to think and feel in many directions, but the
special line of her growth lay apart from that in which the novelist and
classical scholar had directed her.

When she found herself alone and independent, her mind acted like a
spring when pressure is removed. After a few weeks of desoeuvrement she
obeyed the impulse to occupy herself with a kind of reading alien
to Reardon's sympathies. The solid periodicals attracted her, and
especially those articles which dealt with themes of social science.
Anything that savoured of newness and boldness in philosophic thought
had a charm for her palate. She read a good deal of that kind of
literature which may be defined as specialism popularised; writing which
addresses itself to educated, but not strictly studious, persons, and
wh