Had he been free to choose, he would not have been the marrying kind at all. ‘Men with unruly humours like me, who hate any sort of bond or obligation, are not so fit for it.’ Later, he made the best of things, and even attempted to remain faithful – with, he said, more success than he had expected. He became contented, in a way, as he discovered was often the case with developments one would rather have avoided. ‘For not only inconvenient things, but anything at all, however ugly and vicious and repulsive, can become acceptable through some condition or circumstance.’
