Flora de Barral was not exceptionally
intelligent but she was thoroughly feminine. She would be passive (and
that does not mean inanimate) in the circumstances, where the mere fact
of being a woman was enough to give her an occult and supreme
significance. And she would be enduring which is the essence of woman's
visible, tangible power. Of that I was certain. Had she not endured
already? Yet it is so true that the germ of destruction lies in wait for
us mortals, even at the very source of our strength, that one may die of
too much endurance as well as of too little of it.
Such was my train of thought. And I was mindful also of my first view of
her--toying or perhaps communing in earnest with the possibilities of a
precipice. But I did not ask Mr. Powell anxiously what had happened to
Mrs. Anthony in the end. I let him go on in his own way feeling that no
matter what strange facts he would have to disclose, I was certain to
know much more of them than he ever did know or could possibly guess
. . . "
Marlow paused for quite a long time. He seemed uncertain as though he
had advanced something beyond my grasp.
Pages:
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478