Lee was not, here,
considering the part of his life involved with Savina Grove: Savina had
nothing to do with his attitude toward Fanny. This didn't hang on the
affection he might have for one at the superficial expense of the
other: Savina--while it was undeniable that she had done exactly this
in the vulgar physical sense--hadn't essentially taken him away from
Fanny. He had gone self-directed, or, rather, in the blind manner of an
object obeying the law of gravity. He couldn't argue that he had been
swept away.
It wasn't, either, that he overwhelmingly wanted to go to Savina Grove,
he overwhelmingly didn't; and the strangling emotion, the desire, that
had possessed him earlier in the evening had been sufficiently
unwelcome. His only reaction to that was the vigorous hope that it
wouldn't come back. No, he had, mentally, settled the affair with
Savina in the best possible manner; now he was strictly concerned with
the bond between his wife and himself. The most reliable advice, self-
administered or obtained from without, he could hope for would demand
that he devote the rest of his life, delicately considerate, to Fanny.
She must never know the truth. This was the crown of a present
conception of necessity and unassailable conduct, of nobility. But,
against this, Lee Randon was obliged to admit that he was not a
particle noble; he wasn't certain that he wanted to be; he suspected
it.
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