_It was not._ To be faithful to his future wife.

Ha! Ha! That was the beginning of the trap, the white sand neatly raked over the hidden gin.
If he had only lived like other men! If he had only listened to the worst among them, if he had only torn the veil early from every limb of that draped female figure, that iron maiden, if he had only seen it in its horror of nudity, with its sharp nails for eyes, and its jagged knives where the bosom should be, he should not be pressed to death in its embrace now.
He had been deceived, betrayed, fooled.

That was why he was shut up.

He had believed in a woman, had believed that the cobra's bite was only a wasp's sting.

Good Lord, what an imbecile! He was insane of course, raving mad.