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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

“The child won’t be to blame. If Hermione marries, I accept her choice. If she can accept it too, she’ll be fortunate. You know my rule—repent before, not afterwards. And afterwards it’s really too late to criticise. Yes indeed, we’ll be looking across the same dinner-table at each other, Orestes and I, many a time, and he will meditate on the immoral fact that my bad life doesn’t affect my appearance, while I wonder about the human conscience and its mysteries—how we are persuaded to do detestable things for our own salvation and for the improvement of our friends.”

“But, Helen, would you say of Hermione as you said of me, that it would be better if her lover deserted her, left her to bring up her child unmarried?”

“Dear me, I’m to be cross-examined! No, Adraste, I’d never say the same thing of Hermione and of you. I don’t know that she could appreciate her opportunities if Orestes deserted her. I’m not sure that either she or Orestes is in love, ever was, or ever will be. The cases aren’t parallel. From what I can gather, they regard each other not as lovers but as supreme obligations. To Hermione certainly Orestes appeals as one of her duties. If ever I have a word with him, I’ll express my sympathy. But I meant what I said, of your case, and I wish I could say it of Hermione’s; your problem is only with society—and that’s bad enough—but you have no quarrel with the real things that count in the end.”

“Will you put that rug over the baby? The air’s blowing on him.”

“If he sleeps so soundly, he’ll give you little trouble. Oh, what a splendid rug!”

“What do you think? Eteoneus came in here, without being invited, I assure you, and without asking permission, and he stormed like a wild man—said the house was going to the devil, and he must leave it, and he called me—the same thing as baggage, only worse, and said Damastor was an ass. Then he put this over baby and got out.”

PART V

PART V

helen’s beauty

I

I

“It simply comes to this,” said Menelaus, “that we can’t find her.”

“That’s it,” said Eteoneus. “The men have been everywhere in the neighbourhood, ten miles, I should say, in all directions, and no one has heard of her, or seen her go by.”

“It’s very strange that a young girl could walk out of a house in broad daylight, in a civilised country, and completely disappear!”

“My notion is that she didn’t go far,” said Eteoneus. “My idea isn’t worth much, I confess, since I don’t see how she could conceal herself close by, but if she came in at any moment I shouldn’t be over-surprised.”