Else surrounded Robert with an
atmosphere of warm, unvarying tenderness which, though perhaps only from
habit, she understood how to render a necessity of his life. She
insisted upon being the confidant of all his feelings; no outburst of
anger ever betrayed what she experienced during his confessions, not even
a sorrowful quiver of the features ever reminded him to be on his guard;
she possessed inexhaustible indulgence for his frivolities, earnest
sympathy for his fleeting love-sorrows, hateful or ridiculous as they
usually appeared to an uninterested witness, counsel and comfort when an
adventure took an unpleasant turn, and she was satisfied if, in an
ebullition of gratitude, he then pressed her to his heart, kissed her
hands and her cheeks, and assured her that she was the dearest, noblest,
and most lovable woman whom he had ever known. But when she played this
role of a feminine providence, who was apparently free from the ordinary
weaknesses of her sex, when she carefully repressed every emotion of
jealousy at the sight of his inconstancy, she was not free from a selfish
motive.
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