The silent joys that intimacy with
science bestows on her elect were sufficient for him, with only
one heart on earth to taste them with him. His wife shared all his
thoughts. She came of a scholarly family, was rather younger than he;
one of those serious, loving, weak, yet proud hearts, that must give
but only give themselves once. Her existence was bound up in Mairet's
interests. Perhaps she would have shared the life of another man
equally well, if circumstances had been different, but she had married
Mairet with everything that was his. Like many of the best of women,
her intelligence was quick to understand the man whom her heart had
chosen. She had begun by being his pupil, and became his partner,
helping in his work and in his laboratory researches. They had
no children and had every thought in common, both of them being
freethinkers, with high ideals, destitute of religion, as well as of
any national superstition.
In 1914 Mairet was mobilised, and went simply as a duty, without any
illusions as to the cause that he was called upon to serve by the
accidents of time and country. His letters from the front were clear
and stoical; he had never ceased to see the ignominy of the war. But
he felt obliged to sacrifice himself in obedience to fate, which
had made him a part of the errors, the sufferings, and the confused
struggles of an unfortunate animal species slowly evolving towards an
unknown end.
Pages:
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218