“I’ve said so much against your husband, Hermione, that I’m reluctant to imply anything further, but strictly with reference to your mother I’ll confess I’d have to commit a few murders before I could catch that angle. Your mother’s philosophy would do me no good, if she has one, but I suspect she moves from point to point in her life without a settled plan.”

“Orestes says she made such an interesting distinction between sin and error.”

“Oh, that!” said Menelaus. “That part of her philosophy we work out frequently. She makes all the mistakes and I commit all the crimes.”

“No, seriously—she told him that her calmness, what you call her coldness, is simply her resolve to take the consequences of any action once it is done. Our marriage, for instance; she said frankly that she disapproved while it was debatable, but now it was over, she wished us joy and wanted to be friends. She told Orestes to look on his own experiences the same way. If he had done his best, he should have no regrets, not even if the consequences proved he had done wrong. You see she is too proud to go about saying she is sorry; she prefers to accept the punishment, if there is any—and usually, she says, there isn’t.”

“I don’t believe she’s sorry at all—you’ve got that wrong, but I believe she’s too proud. As for the rest of it, I don’t get it very clearly. Orestes liked the doctrine, did he?”

“I wouldn’t quite say that. He thinks it’s dangerous unless carefully applied. But he has said several times that he’d like to talk with her again about it, and he believes he could clarify the ideas for her, and take the danger out, in a little quiet conversation. If he can, why can’t you?”

“Because I’m her husband,” said Menelaus. “Are you going to let him continue those ethical discussions?”

“There may not be time until we come back, and that will be, as I said, not soon. But he is hoping to see her to-morrow before we go. He thinks as I do, that you cannot have seen the possibilities in her character.”

“Hermione, keep your husband away from her! He’s simply another victim. That woman has only one career—to be fascinating. She’d rather have Pyrrhus than Orestes, but Orestes will do. The upshot will be that he will become discontented with you—you see if he doesn’t! I dare say she told him she greatly admired his ideas, or something, and flattered the fool. Those tricks no longer deceive me, that’s why I’m disqualified for any little chats with her about the philosophy of life.”