Further, she
reasoned, the world had need of such aggressive leaders: men who got
things done.
She could not know that in following this naive and wishful train of
thought she was making a classic mistake, indeed, the same mistake her
mother had made before her. She was yielding to a woman's instinctive
attraction and submission to raw strength, which clouds the
conscience, and hampers honest judgment.
Michael had been strong and good; Stephen was merely strong. She was
too young, and too needful, to see the difference.
So riding back with the setting sun, feeling fatigued but at the same
time warm and secure in his presence, it did not seem out of place for
her to rest her head on his shoulder and let her arms, which were
wrapped about his waist for support, squeeze him affectionately. And
if she felt inclined to add, "Thank you, Stephen, I feel wonderful,"
where was the harm?
And as they reached the steep and narrow final passage, his actions
seemed to confirm all the noble, underlying qualities which she had
begun to read into his character.
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