|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: they knew so well how to make that little do--but they understood
also, and she especially did not for a moment let him forget, that
without that little the future they dreamed of was impossible.
The sight of her photograph quickened Glennard's exasperation. He
was sick and ashamed of the part he was playing. He had loved her
now for two years, with the tranquil tenderness that gathers depth
and volume as it nears fulfilment; he knew that she would wait for
him--but the certitude was an added pang. There are times when
the constancy of the woman one cannot marry is almost as trying as
that of the woman one does not want to.
Glennard turned up his reading-lamp and stirred the fire. He had
| 
