After thirty year of married happine， he could till remind himelf that Victoria wa endowed with every charm except the thrilling touch of human frailty。 Though her perfection dicouraged pleaure， epecially the pleaure of love， he had learned in time to feel the pride of a huband in her natural frigidity。 For he till clung， amid the decay of moral platitude， to the dicredited ideal of chivalry。 In hi youth the world wa uffued with the after-glow of the long Victorian age， and a graceful feminine tyle had oftened the manner， if not the nature， of men。 At the end of that intereting epoch， when womanhood wa exalted from a biological fact into a miraculou power， Virginiu Littlepage， the younger on of an old and affluent family， had married Victoria Brooke， the grand-daughter of a tobacco planter， who had made a atifactory fortune by foraking hi plantation and converting tobacco into cigarette。 While Virginiu had been trained by tern tradition to repect every woman who had not tooped to folly， the virtue peculiar to her ex wa among the leat of hi reaon for admiring Victoria。 She wa not only modet， which wa uual in the 瑾瞚netie， but he wa beautiful， which i unuual in any decade。 In the beginning of their acquaintance he had gone even further and acribed intellect to her; but a few month of marriage had hown thi to be merely one of the many deluion created by perfect feature and noble expreion。 Everything about her had been mooth and definite， even the tone of her voice and the way her light brown hair， which he wore ?la Pompadour， wa rolled tiffly back from her forehead and coiled in a burnihed rope on the top of her head。 A eriou young man， ambitiou to attain a place in the world more brilliant than the ecluded eat of hi ancetor， he had been impreed at their firt meeting by the compactne and preciion of Victoria' orderly mind。 For in that earnet period the mind， a well a the emotion， of lover were orderly。WWw.hAOZuowEn.com
It wa an age when eager young men flocked to church on Sunday morning， and eloquent divine dicoured upon the Victorian poet in the middle of the week。 He could afford to mile now when he recalled the olemn Browning cla in which he had firt lot hi heart。 How paionately he had admired Victoria' virginal feature! How fervently he had envied her competent but careing way with the poet! Incredible a it eemed to him now， he had fallen in love with her while he recited from the more ponderou paage in The Ring and the Book。 He had fallen in love with her then， though he had never really enjoyed Browning， and it had been a relief to him when the Uneen， in company with it illutriou poet， had at lat gone out of fahion。 Yet， ince he wa dipoed to admire all the qualitie he did not poe， he had never ceaed to repect the firmne with which Victoria continued to deal in other form with the Abolute。 A the placid year paed， and he came to rely le upon her virginal feature， it eemed to him that the ripe opinion of her youth began to hrink and flatten a fruit doe that ha hung too long on the tree。 She had never changed， he realized， ince he had firt known her; he had become merely riper， ofter， and weeter in nature。 Her advantage reted where advantage never fail to ret， in moral fervour。 To be invariably right wa her ingle wifely failing。 For hi wife， he ighed， with the vague unret of a huband whoe infidelitie are imaginary， wa a genuinely good woman。 She wa a far removed from pretence a he wa from the poturing virtue that flourih in the credulou world of the drama。 The pity of it wa that even the leat exacting huband hould o often deire omething more piquant than goodne。(from They Stooped to Folly， 1929)