Page:Neith Boyce--The bond.djvu/262

260 "Is it a sin for a man, too, if he is married?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, it is a sin. But it's worse for a woman. A woman must be faithful, no matter what the man is. She must hold fast to her duty—she must not even think a sinful thought—for women are terribly weak, Teresa."

"Not so weak as men."

"Oh, much weaker! For if their self-control goes, even once, they are never the same again. … Listen, I shall have to tell you about my sister-in-law, Edith, Egisto's English wife, you know. I've had a hysterical letter from her this morning, and she's coming up here. They've had a terrible row, and Egisto turned her out of the house. Once before the same thing happened and she flew to me, and I made things up—I got Egisto to take her back. And now she's done the same thing again, and he threatens to get a separation—of course they can't be divorced—and as nearly all her money is settled on him it will leave her in a terrible position. That's what women come to who don't run straight—even from a worldly point of view it's ruin for them. No … it's better to resign one's self to being—dull, I suppose you call it."

"I do call it dull, to have nothing but your house and your children!"

"Well, what are you going to do? You can't have affairs with men—you can't even have one