Explore "The Stars in their Courses" by Mary Cholmondeley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I was always somewhat amazed when I came to think of it, but I hardly ever did think of it, that my cousin, Jimmy Cross, should have married Gertrude Bingham. There seemed no reason for such a desperate step on his part. But if one is going to be taken aback by the alliances of one's friends and relations one would journey through life in a continual state of astonishment, and the marriage service especially exhorts the married "not to be afraid with any amazement," which shows that that is the natural emotion evoked by contemplation of the holy estate, and that it is our duty not to give way to it.
I said there seemed no reason for the lethargic Jimmy to take this step, especially as he had been married before, and had enjoyed a serene widowhood for some years. But what I forgot was that he never did take any step at all in either marriage. He just sat still.