Mary Lavelle Part III

Mary meets Luisa, Juan's wife, who is a charming beautiful woman. She meets Juan when she is out walking and they dance together, like the working people do, to music in a local square. Naive as she is, she can begin to feel that she's falling in love with him and he seems to be attracted to her and capable of arousing her in a way that John does not. They begin to admit their feelings to each other, and Mary knows that a divorce or separation would destroy Juan's chances of a poliitcal career, and hurt his very Catholic family. He is a Catholic but is more liberal on issues such as divorce, but he cares for his wife and does not want to hurt her. But he now cares for Mary as well. Agatha Conlon, one of the governesses, tells Mary that she must not do anything so foolish again with Juan as to dance with him in public. She admits to her friend that she has always been lonely and unhappy, and she now realies that it is because she has lesbian feelings and is in love with Mary herself. Agatha is very religious and feels guilty about her unnatural love, as she sees it. Mary is still Catholic but since coming to Spain she has become more questioning of the Church's stance on many things and she tries to assure Agatha that she is not shocked by her feelings. But she cannot resist her own love for Juan, though she knows it is hopeless. She tells Juan that she must go home to Ireland and get away from him and not mess up his marriage. She intends to tell her fiance that she does not love him, and to get hold of her small inheritance and try to find a job in London, where she can make a new life. She and Juan decide to spend one day together, and she tells him that she wants to become his lover.