She could bear all if he were inwardly true to her and must come back.
He saw none of the anomaly of his position.

Miriam was his old friend, lover, and she belonged to Bestwood and home and his youth.

Clara was a newer friend, and she belonged to Nottingham, to life, to the world.

It seemed to him quite plain.
Mrs.Dawes and he had many periods of coolness, when they saw little of each other; but they always came together again.
"Were you horrid with Baxter Dawes ?" he asked her.

It was a thing that seemed to trouble him.
"In what way ?" "Oh, I don't know.