Read CamillasConsequences for Free Online Page A

Since the sun blazes in the sky, I open my parasol to shield myself from its rays. Lady Aldridge walks a few steps ahead, her spine rigid, her steps short and rapid. Since she is a victim, I should not make her feel worse by drawing out this conversation.
    “I should like to discuss your husband.”
    “What of him?” she snaps, whirling to face me.
    Why so much anger? She behaves like a cornered animal. “I will be brief and direct. You are aware of his perversion, are you not?”
    She looks at me blankly. Is she ignorant of his philandering? As I continue to stare, her façade falters.
    Her cheeks blanch, and when she speaks, she sounds rehearsed and wooden. “He is a good husband, a loving father, a respected politician. Do not make accusations.”
    “I simply wish to understand how you can continue to live with a man who betrays you on a regular basis.” When I discovered Samson’s infidelity, I rectified matters immediately.
    “He has always been faithful.” She utters “faithful” with a tremor.
    Denial is much like a bog. Once you fall into its depths, it is virtually impossible to extricate yourself. Poor woman. I must say I pity her, trapped in a loveless marriage, unable to break free. “I know for a fact that he has not been faithful to you.”
    Her blue eyes are glassy. “Have you…do you have knowledge of my husband?”
    “No!” What a ludicrous assumption. Me? Consort with Lord Aldridge? “I am speaking of the men .”
    “You know of this?” she whispers, glancing at the other ladies through the window as if hoping for rescue.
    “Yes. Why do you remain with him?”
    “A woman in a marriage is like a bird in a cage, is she not?”
    “No. There is always a way to unlock the door and fly free, although sometimes one must be creative.”
    “How?” A note of desperation tinges her voice. “Divorce is not an alternative. The Church will not allow it. My family cannot afford a scandal. I have three daughters. Sarah will make her debut this spring. Our family’s name must be impeccable in order for her to find a good husband.”
    “A husband unlike your own.” Society binds a woman to her husband, expecting her to remain honorable throughout the union. If she so much as flirts with another man, her reputation is stained forever, and the husband can resort to an immediate divorce. But if a man commits adultery, there are no similar repercussions. The wife is blamed for not seeing to her husband’s needs, and she ultimately bears responsibility for his infidelity.
    A tear runs down her cheek, resembling a dewdrop sliding down a rose petal. “Yes, a husband unlike my own.”
    “I am not here to judge you. That is not my role. It is your husband who concerns me, but I need to know how you feel about him.”
    She pauses a moment. “He has always been good to our daughters.”
    Once, I followed Lord Aldridge and his trio of blonde, prattling girls to a milliner’s shop. While I watched through the window, he sat patiently on a bench, admiring each daughter as she modeled one fashionable hat after another. In the end, he purchased several, and they flounced out the door in their new apparel, jostling one another, all of them trying to hang on their father’s arm.
    “But for everything else, I loathe him.” Her eyes burn with an inner fire.
    “Do you wish to confront him about his errant ways?”
    “Confront him?” She shakes her head, a tendril coming loose from her chignon. “He is Lord Aldridge, a member of the House of Lords. He is powerful beyond your dreams.”
    No more powerful than I. “He does not frighten me,” I say. “Do you wish him to stop fornicating?”
    “Of course.”
    Good. In order to decide on a proper course of action, I ask more probing questions. “Do you still have relations with him?”
    She balks and takes a step backward. My question is indeed invasive, but I relish asking it. Women are so repressed, so unable to discuss sexuality. It should not be so. Even