She thought
much about the coming change to herself, however, and, when nobody was
by, she would cry softly; then, hearing his footsteps, would hastily wipe
away the traces of her tears, and go to meet him with a smile.
"Now, her timidity and nervousness, which at home had been a butt for
mere chaff, became, under the new circumstances of their life, a serious
annoyance to the man. A woman who seemed unable to repress a scream
whenever she turned and saw in the gloom a pair of piercing eyes looking
out at her from a dusky face, who was liable to drop off her horse with
fear at the sound of a wild beast's roar a mile off, and who would turn
white and limp with horror at the mere sight of a snake, was not a
companionable person to live with in the neighbourhood of Indian jungles.
"He himself was entirely without fear, and could not understand it. To
him it was pure affectation. He had a muddled idea, common to men of his
stamp, that women assume nervousness because they think it pretty and
becoming to them, and that if one could only convince them of the folly
of it they might be induced to lay it aside, in the same way that they
lay aside mincing steps and simpering voices. A man who prided himself,
as he did, upon his knowledge of horses, might, one would think, have
grasped a truer notion of the nature of nervousness, which is a mere
matter of temperament.
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