Both he and she were to have a loose rein, and there was to be no call for affection on either side.
His mind runs back to those early days when he had asked Tita to marry him.

He had been altogether satisfied with the arrangements then made--arrangements that left him as free as air, and his wife too.

He had thought with boredom of this marriage, and had grasped at any alleviation of the martyrdom.

And now it is just as he had ordained it.

And yet---- Tita has disappeared.