THE LOVER
"But she mustn't cling heavily, must she?" asked Cicely.
"She clings not only to her husband but in a lesser degree to her household and"—he coughed slightly—"children. Her sphere———"
"—Is the home," said Richard quickly. "But suppose she hasn't got a home?"
"She may now hope till a quite advanced age to obtain a home by matrimony. If she cannot she must look for work. It is always possible for an unmarried woman to make herself useful if she is willing and"—he considered carefully—"bright."
"Do you like women to be bright?" asked Cicely eagerly.
"It depends," said Herbert guardedly. He had hated Cicely when she was skittish; it had sat grotesquely upon her as a spinster, though now that she was married a little matronly playfulness did not ill become her. "Doris is bright, bright and equable."
Remembering with resentment how uncomfortable Cicely had sometimes made him, he raised his voice a little. "She has no moods. She has simple tastes. She is always very bright and equable."
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