benign tenderness

I'd use this arrangement:

Between them, there is no longer even the most benign tenderness, nor those little whisperings in the night while the children are asleep.

?? Could be :

There are no longer any signs of affection between them, not even those little whisperings in the night while the children are asleep.

Hello Davkett and Alan.es,

Thank you both for your replies. Alan, does it mean that benign tenderness sounds awkard to a native?

Yes, I do find it strange. I've never heard or read the expression before.

Benign tenderness is fine wih me, though it will not work so well in Alan.es' reconstruction.

"Even the most benign tenderness" doesn't seem to be quite what the context requires; something with the sense of "not (even) the least tenderness" or "not (even) the slightest sign of tenderness" seems more appropriate here.

MrP

Though it does make a slightly unusual phase, I was thinking of this use of benign: "having no significant effect". Even those forms of tenderness that one hardly notices, or one hardly ever credits with having any importance (until they're absent)--even those most 'insignificant' of all gestures are no longer present. Yes, the meaning is "slight" or "least", but I read benign tendern

Thank you both.