'
'Caroline, what an expression!'
'Well, I want a brave man,' Rose said, 'if I want one at all.'
Caroline turned on Sophia. 'What's language for except to express
oneself? You're out of date, Sophia; you always were, and I've always
been ahead of my time. Now, Rose,'--these personalities were dear to
Caroline--'Rose belongs to no time at all. That frightens them. They
don't understand. You can't imagine a Radstowe young man making love
to the Sphinx. They were more daring when I was young. Look at
Reginald! Look at the General!'
'It was his profession,' Rose remarked.
'Yes, I suppose that's what he told himself when he married your
mother, a mere girl, no older than myself, but he was afraid of her
and adored her. I believe men always like their second wives best--
they're flattered at succeeding in getting two. I know men. Our own
mother was pious and made him go to church, but with your mother he
looked as if he were in a temple all the time. Those big, stern men
are always managed by their women; it's the thin men with weak legs
who really go their own way.'
'Caroline,' Sophia sighed, 'I don't know how you think of such things.
Is that an epigram?'
'I don't know,' Caroline said, 'but I shouldn't be surprised.'
Smiling in her mysterious way, Rose left the room, and Sophia,
slightly pink with anxiety, murmured, 'Caroline, there's no one in
Radstowe really fit for her. Don't you think we ought to go about,
perhaps to London, or abroad?'
'I'm not going to budge,' Caroline said.
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