the Rich are Different Part III

Sylvia accidentally gets a bill for a silver christening mug, which Paul had bought as a gift for Dinah's baby son. She confronts her husband who tells her that he had never promised her fidelity, but that he did not mean for his young English mistress to get pregnant. Sylvia is angry and upset, and it creates a rift between her and Paul. Then to her amazement, Terence OReilly, her husband's aide who has always seemed a very dull young man, tells her that he knew of Paul's affair in 1923 and that he himself cannot understand why he should get mixed up with a young plain woman when he had Sylvia. She is startled to find that O'Reilly has been harbouring a secret passion for her, and even more surprised to find that she is a little attracted to him. But she tells herself that she loves Paul. However, she had always believed that he played straight with her and now that illusion is being shaken. Paul becomes more absorbed in his work, and more distant. Terence pushes things further by passing on a note from Dinah to Sylvia, and she realises that Paul has been lying to her even more, that he is still in touch with Dinah. When they are argue about this, Paul suddenly collapses and has an epileptic fit. Sylvia realises then that this has been the secret that her husband has been hiding all his life, the reason why he wont have more children. She waits till he comes around, thankful that noone saw his collapse. When he recovers he tells her that his epilepsty has been his shameful secret all his life. He had been well for a long time but a few years earlier, when Vicky died in childbirth, he had another attack. He was furiously angry with Jason, Vicky's husband who had mocked him as a boy for his fits, and he fitted the banker up so that it looked as if Jason had made a serious mistake in dealing with a client, and that would push him to resign from the bank. However, Jason killed himself and Paul, had had another attack, from guilt. He could not forgive Da Costa for, as he saw it, causing Vicky's death by letting her get pregnant... and he begins to fear that he is getting deeper and deeper into a blood stained life. Sylvia understands that that was partly why he had a lot of mistresses, to distract him from his worries about his illness and the problems that it led him into. Paul tells her that he has lied and done wrong in order to wreak his revenge on Jason, and that O'Reilly as his closest aide knows that he has a lot of dark secrets. He wants to fire O'Reilly but the man knows too much. Paul is grateful for Sylvia's loyalty, and tries to go on with his life, but his health has been undermined by the strain of the last few years. He fears another epileptic attack, and fears even more that he would have to give up his work and he'd be wondering if people would snigger if he had an attack. His depression has an effect on him sexually and while he and Sylvia had usually had a good sex life, he now cannot make love to her. After a while, she tells him that she realises that he cant get over hs sexual problems alone - it would help him if he had someone who didnt know about his illness who would make him happy for a time. She tells him to send for Dinah.