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silent crying; he went into his bed-room and got a glass of
water; he leaned over her.
‘Won’t you drink a little? It’ll relieve you.’
She put her lips listlessly to the glass and drank two or
three mouthfuls. Then in an exhausted whisper she asked
him for a handkerchief. She dried her eyes.
‘Of course I knew you never loved me as much as I loved
you,’ she moaned.
‘I’m afraid that’s always the case,’ he said. ‘There’s always
one who loves and one who lets himself be loved.’
He thought of Mildred, and a bitter pain traversed his
heart. Norah did not answer for a long time.
‘I’d been so miserably unhappy, and my life was so hate-
ful,’ she said at last.
She did not speak to him, but to herself. He had never
heard her before complain of the life she had led with her
husband or of her poverty. He had always admired the bold
front she displayed to the world.
‘And then you came along and you were so good to me.
And I admired you because you were clever and it was so
heavenly to have someone I could put my trust in. I loved
you. I never thought it could come to an end. And without
any fault of mine at all.’
Her tears began to flow again, but now she was more
mistress of herself, and she hid her face in Philip’s handker-
chief. She tried hard to control herself.
‘Give me some more water,’ she said.
She wiped her eyes.
‘I’m sorry to make such a fool of myself. I was so unpre-

Of Human Bondage