\u201cWhat are you doing out here, Edna? I thought I should find you in bed,\u201d said her husband, when he discovered her lying there. He had walked up with Madame Lebrun and left her at the house. His wife did not reply.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you asleep?\u201d he asked, bending down close to look at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d Her eyes gleamed bright and intense, with no sleepy shadows, as they looked into his.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know it is past one o\u2019clock? Come on,\u201d and he mounted the steps and went into their room.<\/p>\n
\u201cEdna!\u201d called Mr. Pontellier from within, after a few moments had gone by.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t wait for me,\u201d she answered. He thrust his head through the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will take cold out there,\u201d he said, irritably. \u201cWhat folly is this? Why don\u2019t you come in?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t cold; I have my shawl.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mosquitoes will devour you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no mosquitoes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She heard him moving about the room; every sound indicating impatience and irritation. Another time she would have gone in at his request. She would, through habit, have yielded to his desire; not with any sense of submission or obedience to his compelling wishes, but unthinkingly, as we walk, move, sit, stand, go through the daily treadmill of the life which has been portioned out to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cEdna, dear, are you not coming in soon?\u201d he asked again, this time fondly, with a note of entreaty.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo; I am going to stay out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is more than folly,\u201d he blurted out. \u201cI can\u2019t permit you to stay out there all night. You must come in the house instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a writhing motion she settled herself more securely in the hammock. She perceived that her will had blazed up, stubborn and resistant. She could not at that moment have done other than denied and resisted. She wondered if her husband had ever spoken to her like that before, and if she had submitted to his command. Of course she had; she remembered that she had. But she could not realize why or how she should have yielded, feeling as she then did.<\/p>\n
\u201cL\u00e9once, go to bed,\u201d she said, \u201cI mean to stay out here. I don\u2019t wish to go in, and I don\u2019t intend to. Don\u2019t speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Pontellier had prepared for bed, but he slipped on an extra garment. He opened a bottle of wine, of which he kept a small and select supply in a buffet of his own. He drank a glass of the wine and went out on the gallery and offered a glass to his wife. She did not wish any. He drew up the rocker, hoisted his slippered feet on the rail, and proceeded to smoke a cigar. He smoked two cigars; then he went inside and drank another glass of wine. Mrs. Pontellier again declined to accept a glass when it was offered to her. Mr. Pontellier once more seated himself with elevated feet, and after a reasonable interval of time smoked some more cigars.<\/p>\n
Edna began to feel like one who awakens gradually out of a dream, a delicious, grotesque, impossible dream, to feel again the realities pressing into her soul. The physical need for sleep began to overtake her; the exuberance which had sustained and exalted her spirit left her helpless and yielding to the conditions which crowded her in.<\/p>\n
The stillest hour of the night had come, the hour before dawn, when the world seems to hold its breath. The moon hung low, and had turned from silver to copper in the sleeping sky. The old owl no longer hooted, and the water-oaks had ceased to moan as they bent their heads.<\/p>\n
Edna arose, cramped from lying so long and still in the hammock. She tottered up the steps, clutching feebly at the post before passing into the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you coming in, L\u00e9once?\u201d she asked, turning her face toward her husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, dear,\u201d he answered, with a glance following a misty puff of smoke. \u201cJust as soon as I have finished my cigar.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"menu_order":11,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-73","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/251"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/73\/revisions\/207"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/73\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/awakening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}