She had spoilt
her own fur. But what was more penetrating and distressing in this
dream was not so much the case Amanda stated as the atmosphere of
unconquerable intimacy between them, as though they still belonged
to each other, soul to soul, as though nothing that had happened
afterwards could have destroyed their common responsibility and the
common interest of their first unstinted union. She was hurt, and
of course he was hurt. He began to see that his marriage to Amanda
was still infinitely more than a technical bond.
And having perceived that much he presently began to doubt whether
she realized anything of the sort. Her letters fluctuated very much
in tone, but at times they were as detached and guarded as a
schoolgirl writing to a cousin. Then it seemed to Benham an
extraordinary fraud on her part that she should presume to come into
his dream with an entirely deceptive closeness and confidence. She
began to sound him in these latter letters upon the possibility of
divorce. This, which he had been quite disposed to concede in
London, now struck him as an outrageous suggestion.
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