There came a slight sense of money-strain. Egbert was
living on his father-in-law.
After the child was born, it was never quite the same between him and
Winifred. The difference was at first hardly perceptible. But it was
there. In the first place Winifred had a new centre of interest. She was
not going to adore her child. But she had what the modern mother so often
has in the place of spontaneous love: a profound sense of duty towards
her child. Winifred appreciated her darling little girl, and felt a deep
sense of duty towards her. Strange, that this sense of duty should go
deeper than the love for her husband. But so it was. And so it often is.
The responsibility of motherhood was the prime responsibility in
Winifred's heart: the responsibility of wifehood came a long way second.
Her child seemed to link her up again in a circuit with her own family.
Her father and mother, herself, and her child, that was the human trinity
for her. Her husband--? Yes, she loved him still. But that was like play.
She had an almost barbaric sense of duty and of family. Till she married,
her first human duty had been towards her father: he was the pillar, the
source of life, the everlasting support. Now another link was added to
the chain of duty: her father, herself, and her child.
Egbert was out of it. Without anything happening, he was gradually,
unconsciously excluded from the circle.
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