Mr. Meredith's not at all well."
Marie bowed gravely. She went to Meredith's side, and looked at him
with a smile that was at once critical and encouraging. Nestorius
holding on to her skirts looked up to her face, and seeing the
smile, smiled too. He went further. He turned and smiled at Joseph
as if to make things pleasant all round.
Marie stooped over the sofa and her clever dusky fingers moved to
the cushions.
"You will be better in bed," she said; "I will get Mr. Gordon's room
made ready for you--yes?"
There are occasions when the mere presence of a woman supplies a
distinct want. She need not be clever, or very capable; she need
have no great learning or experience. She merely has to be a woman-
-the more womanly the better. There are times when a man may
actually be afraid for the want of a woman, but that is usually for
the want of one particular woman. There may be a distinct sense of
fear--a fear of life and its possibilities--which is nothing else
than a want--the want of a certain voice, the desire to be touched
by a certain hand, the carping necessity (which takes the physical
form of a pressure deep down in the throat) for the sympathy of that
one person whose presence is different from the presence of other
people. And failing that particular woman another can, in a certain
degree, by her mere womanliness, stay the pressure of the want.
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