The women disliked her, and copied her.
The men spoke slightingly of her to their wives, lightly of her to each
other, and made idiots of themselves when they were alone with her. She
laughed at them to their faces, and mimicked them behind their backs.
Their friends said it was clever.
"One year there arrived a young English engineer, who had come out to
superintend some canal works. He brought with him satisfactory letters
of recommendation, and was at once received by the European residents as
a welcome addition to their social circle. He was not particularly good-
looking, he was not remarkably charming, but he possessed the one thing
that few women can resist in a man, and that is strength. The woman
looked at the man, and the man looked back at the woman; and the drama
began.
"Scandal flies swiftly through small communities. Before a month, their
relationship was the chief topic of conversation throughout the quarter.
In less than two, it reached the ears of the woman's husband.
"He was either an exceptionally mean or an exceptionally noble character,
according to how one views the matter. He worshipped his wife--as men
with big hearts and weak brains often do worship such women--with dog-
like devotion. His only dread was lest the scandal should reach
proportions that would compel him to take notice of it, and thus bring
shame and suffering upon the woman to whom he would have given his life.
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