ole question is so
simple, and at the same time so complicated.

Probably you are saying to yourself: "A woman must love one man or the
other." With some show of reason, you will argue: "In leaving my house,
at any rate, she proved at the moment that Schlegel alone claimed her
affection."

Nevertheless I maintain that you are wrong.

Lillie showed every sign of a sane, well-balanced nature. Well, her
famous equability and calm deceived us all. Behind this serene exterior
was concealed the most feminine of all feminine qualities--a fanciful,
visionary imagination.

Do you or I know anything about her first girlish dreams? Have you--in
spite of your happy life together--ever really understood her innermost
soul? Forgive my doubts, but I do not think you have. When a man
possesses a woman as completely as you possessed Lillie, he thinks
himself quite safe. You never knew a moment's doubt, or supposed it
possible that, having you, she could wish for anything else. You
believed that you fulfilled all her requirements.

How do you know that for years past Lillie has not felt some longings
and deficiencies in her inner life of which she was barely conscious, or
which she did not understand?

You are not only a clever and capable man; you are kind, and an
entertaining companion; in short, you have many good qualities which
Lillie exalted to the skies. But your nature is not very poetical. You
are, in fact, rather prosaic, and only believe what you see. Your
judgments and views are not hasty, but just and decisive.

Now contrast all this with Lillie's immense indulgence. Whence did she
derive this if not from a sympathetic understanding of things which we
do not possess? You remember how we used to laugh when she defended some
criminal who was quite beyond defence and apology! Something intense and
far-seeking came into her expression on those occasions, and her heart
prompted some line of argument which reason could not support.

She stood all alone in her sympathy, facing us, cold and sceptical
people.

But how she must have suffered!

Then recollect the pleasure it gave her to discuss religious and
philosophical questions. She was not "religious" in the common
acceptation of the word. But she liked to get to the bottom of things,
and to use her imagination. We others were indifferent, or frankly
bored, by such matters.

And Lillie, who was so gentle and lacking in self-assertion, gave way to
us.

Recall, too,