AND so the Craddocks began their journey along the great road nowhither which is called the Road of Holy Matrimony. The spring came, and with it a hundred new delights; Bertha watched the days, the coloured crocus spring from the ground, the snowbells; the warm damp days of February brought the and then the violets. February is a month of languors; the world’s heart is heavy, listless of the unrest of April and the vigorous life of May. Throughout nature the seed is and the pulse of all things . The sea mists arose from the North Sea, and covered the Kentish land with a veil of moisture, white and almost , so that through it the leafless trees were seen strangely distorted, their branches like long arms to free themselves from the of winter; the grass was very green in the , and the young lambs frisked and , to their mothers. Already the thrushes and the blackbirds were singing in the hedge-rows. March roared in , and the clouds, high above, swept across the sky before the tearing winds, sometimes heaped up in heavy masses and then blown , flying westwards, tripping over one another’s heels in their hurry. Nature was resting; holding her breath, as it were, before the great effort of birth.
Gradually Bertha came to know her husband better. At her marriage she had really known nothing but that she loved him; the senses only had spoken, she and he were merely puppets whom nature had thrown together and made attractive in one another’s eyes, that the race might be continued. Bertha, desire burning within her like a fire, had flung herself into her husband’s arms, loving as the beasts love—and as the gods. He was the man and she was the woman, and the world was a Garden of Eden, up by the power of passion. But greater knowledge brought only greater love. Little by little, reading in Edward’s mind, Bertha discovered to her delight an unexpected purity; it was with a feeling of curious happiness that she recognised his . She saw that he had never loved before, that woman to him was a strange thing, a thing he had scarcely known. She was proud that her husband had come to her unsoiled by foreign embraces, the lips that kissed hers were clean; no speech on the subject had passed between them, and yet she felt certain of his extreme chastity. His soul was truly virginal.
And this being so, how could she fail to adore him! Bertha was only happy in her husband’s company, and it was an pleasure for her to think that their bonds could not be , that so long as they lived they would be always together, always inseparable. She followed him like a dog, with a subjection that was really ; her pride had vanished, and she desired to exist only in Edward, to fuse her character with his and be one with him. She wanted him to be her only individuality, likening herself to climbing to the oak tree; for he was an oak tree, a pillar of strength, and she was very weak. In the morning after breakfast she accompanied him on his walk around the farms, and only when her presence was impossible did she stay at home to look after her house. The attempt to read was hopeless, and she had thrown aside her books. Why should she read? Not for entertainment, since her husband was a perpetual occupation; and if she knew how to love, what other knowledge was useful? Often, left alone for a while, she would take up some volume, but her mind quickly wandered and she thought of Edward again, wishing to be with him.
Bertha’s life was an exquisite dream, a dream which need never end; for her happiness was not of that sort which needs excursions and alarums, but equable and smooth; she dwelt in a paradise of , in which were neither violent shadows nor glaring lights. She was in heaven, and the only link attaching her to earth was the weekly service at Leanham. There was a humanity about the bare church with its pitch-pine, highly pews, and the odours of hair-pomade and Reckitt’s Blue. Edward was in his Sabbath garments, the organist made sounds, and the village sang out of ; Mr. Glover’s mechanical delivery of the prayers cleverly extracted all beauty from them, and his sermon was intensely . Those two hours of church gave Bertha just the touch of earthliness which was necessary to make her realize that life was not entirely spiritual.
Now came April. The elms before Court Leys were beginning to burst into leaf; the green buds covered the branches like a delicate rain, a that was visible from a little distance and vanished when one came near. The brown fields also clothed themselves with a summer garment; the clover sprang up green and , and the crops showed good promise for the future. There were days when the air was almost balmy, when the sun was warm and the heart leapt, certain at last that the spring was at hand. The warm and comfortable rain soaked into the ground; and from the branches continually hung the drops, in the succeeding sun. The self-conscious tulip unfolded her and carpeted the ground with colour. The clouds above Leanham were lifted up and the world was stretched out in a greater circle. The birds now sang with no uncertain notes as in March, but from a full throat, filling the air; and in the behind Court Leys the first nightingale poured out his richness. And the full of the earth rose up, the of the mould and of the rain, the perfumes of the sun and of the soft breezes.
But sometimes, without ceasing, it rained from morning till night, and then Edward rubbed his hands.
“I wish this would keep on for a week; it’s just what the country wants.”
One such day Bertha was lying on a sofa while Edward stood at the window, looking at the pattering rain. She thought of the November afternoon when she had stood at the same window considering the of the winter, but her heart full of hope and love.
“Come and sit down beside me, Eddie dear,” she said. “I’ve hardly seen you all day.”
“I’ve got to go out,” he said, without turning round.
“Oh no, you haven’t. Come here and sit down.”
“I’ll come for two minutes, while they’re putting the trap in.”
“Kiss me.”
He kissed her and she laughed. “You funny boy, I don’t believe you care about kissing me............