" And while he listened to the account given by the two boys of
their doings, he could not help looking at Emily, and thinking, as he
had sometimes done before, that she bore, in some slight degree, a
resemblance to his wife--his wife whom he had idealised a good deal
lately--and who generally, in his thought, presented herself to him as
she had done when, as a mere lad, he first saw her. A dark-haired and
grey-eyed young woman, older than himself, as a very young man's first
admiration frequently is. He felt that Emily was more graceful, had a
charm of manner and a sweetness of nature that Janie had never
possessed. He seldom allowed himself to admit even to his own mind that
his wife had been endowed with very slight powers of loving. On that
occasion, however, the fact was certainly present to his thought; "But,"
he cogitated, "we had no quarrels. A man may sometimes do with but
little love from his wife, if he is quite sure she loves no other man
more."
He started from his reverie as Crayshaw ceased to speak. "I thought you
had more sense," he said, with the smile still on his mouth that had
come while he mused on Emily.
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