"Well, you can keep your spiritual faithfulness.

I'm not going to be content with any sweet thoughts." Cowperwood laughed even as she laughed, for he knew she was right and he felt sorry for her.

At the same time her biting humor pleased him.
He knew that she did not really suspect him of actual infidelity; he was obviously so fond of her.

But she also knew that he was innately attractive to women, and that there were enough of the philandering type to want to lead him astray and make her life a burden.

Also that he might prove a very willing victim.
Sex desire and its fruition being such an integral factor in the marriage and every other sex relation, the average woman is prone to study the periodic manifestations that go with it quite as one dependent on the weather--a sailor, or example--might study the barometer.