Men and Wives (36 page)

“Yes, yes, that is how it is,” said Godfrey. “It shows how people are right when they impose conditions. Harriet had right on her side. I even felt it when she hinted to me that she would like to make the restriction, poor girl! I was glad to be saved from myself. I was glad she wanted to be tied to me. Why are you staring at me, Rachel? You are all eyes. It was a tribute, after all the years we had lived together as man and wife.”

“It was a most fitting tribute,” said Rachel. “But you have had quite enough credit for it, Godfrey.”

“What amuses me,” said Godfrey, “well, I don't mean it amuses me; what I take satisfaction in, is that Harriet has had everything turn out as she wished. Matthew is off to London to pursue his profession, and Jermyn to Cambridge for the same sort of thing, and Griselda is quit of her parson, and Gregory of the old dames, and I myself am laid up high and dry! I mean she got in her say about me as well. It is some compensation for being out of things, for passing on before, to see your wisdom bearing fruit. For it all followed on in a manner. Not that she needs compensation where she is now. It is we who need that.”

“Harriet was always a fortunate woman,” said Rachel.

This electronic edition published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Reader

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Copyright © 1931 by Ivy Compton-Burnett

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ISBN: 9781448200948
eISBN: 9781448202263

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