Since he did not even see that she was acting in
hourly fear of her mother's eye, he was little likely to penetrate
her more hidden sentiments; and then he had not touched her
key-note,--self-denial.
Women are self-denying and uncandid. Men are self-indulgent and
outspoken.
And this is the key to a thousand double misunderstandings; for believe
me, good women are just as stupid in misunderstanding men as honest men
are in misunderstanding women.
To Camille, Josephine's fluctuations, joys, tremors, love, terror,
modesty, seemed one grand total, caprice. The component parts of it he
saw not; and her caprice tortured him almost to madness. Too penitent
to give way again to violent passion, he gently fretted. His health
retrograded and his temper began to sour. The eye of timid love that
watched him with maternal anxiety from under its long lashes saw this
with dismay, and Rose, who looked into her sister's bosom, devoted
herself once more to soothe him without compromising Josephine's
delicacy. Matters were not so bad but what a fine sprightly girl like
Rose could cheer up a dejected but manly colonel; and Rose was generally
successful.
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