“Again I get your meaning,” said Menelaus. “If Helen, with a greater grief, can forgive Orestes and treat him cordially, why cannot Menelaus, who after all lost no relative by the sword of Orestes—only an unwelcome guest. Well, there’s room for only one remarkable person of that kind in this family. I give way to Helen.”

“You really are mistaken,” said Hermione. “Of course you think I am speaking for Orestes, but really it’s for you. Orestes and I are going on a journey, and whether or not you appreciate him is only a matter of sentiment with me. But I’d like to feel that you and mother were entirely happy again—my own happiness makes me wish that for mother—and I begin to see that the chief obstacle is your lack of—”

“Do you realise how impertinent you are?” said Menelaus. “What business is it of yours whether or not your mother is happy with me? And how would you know whether I understood her? You have been at swords’ points with her yourself, so far as I could see, until this very moment, and I believe you haven’t the temperament to see things her way, even if you cared to. You must remember I’ve been rather intimate with Helen and her doings for a longer time than you’ve been alive; she’s almost an intuitive habit with me now. I understand her all right. Don’t worry. If she isn’t happy it’s her own fault. I suppose you still admit she has faults?”

“What are they, father? She is human, of course, but I’d like to hear you name the things you would like to change. Her appearance?”

“We’ll discuss her character,” said Menelaus. “I’ve just told you I believe she has no heart. She can do anything at all, or have the most tragic things happen to her, and not be disturbed in the slightest. She’s without feelings. Then I might as well say I think her utterly immoral. Almost every sin has a bright side for her. If she elopes from her home and gets caught and brought back, she says ‘My mistake!’ and goes on as though nothing had happened, and she doesn’t always say it’s her mistake. That’s the magnanimity you are praising. She has had so much practice forgiving herself, she can forgive anybody now.”

“I knew you didn’t understand. Have you ever thought of sitting down and talking with her about her philosophy of life? It would be illuminating. Orestes said this morning that if he hadn’t heard her talk on the subject of his own troubles, he would never have caught the angle from which her conduct can be understood.”