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Chapters (39)
  1. Cover
  2. The Private Life of Helen of Troy
  3. Contents
  4. NOTE
  5. PART I
  6. I
  7. II
  8. III
  9. IV
  10. V
  11. VI
  12. VII
  13. PART II
  14. I
  15. II
  16. III
  17. IV
  18. V
  19. VI
  20. PART III
  21. I
  22. II
  23. III
  24. IV
  25. V
  26. PART IV
  27. I
  28. II
  29. III
  30. IV
  31. V
  32. PART V
  33. I
  34. II
  35. III
  36. IV
  37. V
  38. VI
  39. VII

“Father,” said Hermione, “I believe it was Electra. She urged him on. I knew it wasn’t like Orestes to do it. He will share the blame out of loyalty, but she did it, I’m sure. It’s not nearly so bad as it seemed.”

“It’s so bad that I’ll never let Orestes cross my threshold,” said Menelaus. “You keep on looking for excuses, but the fact is, he killed his mother. If you have any of those natural feelings which are supposed to indicate the difference between right and wrong, you know he did wrong—so great a wrong that from now on he has lost his place in human society. You aren’t thinking of him still as a husband, are you?”

“Certainly. He is my husband.”

“Hermione, don’t tell me you would marry a man who had killed his mother!”

“I shall marry him.”

“Would a child of mine have a soul so mean? Don’t say that, Hermione—think what you’re saying! His wife will be as he is, the companion of his sin, utterly cursed. You will never enter a good house, nor sit down to eat with friends, nor even die in peace, nor rest in a quiet grave. If you think you love him, remember you must have no children—the curse must die with you! I can imagine how profoundly you are shocked by this horrible deed, but you don’t yet realise the horror. Think it over quietly for a few days; you’ll see that I’m right.”

“You have told me the truth about my future,” said Hermione, “but it still is my future. I belong to Orestes, to his curse, to his misery. I could never respect myself if I deserted him now. You don’t know him as I do, and perhaps you never could understand his type of character. You are adventurous in battle, so I’m told, and mother is adventurous in love. There are people who are adventurous in duty—who will carry a thing through not because it is pleasant, nor because they like it, nor because it will make anybody happy, but because it is right.”

“You call it being adventurous in duty to kill your mother?”

“In some circumstances, perhaps, but I was thinking of myself, and of my duty to Orestes. I shall go through with it.”

“Whether or not it makes anybody happy, eh?”