"As a man of the world, you know the meaning
of such marriages, and what they may, what they do often, come to. A
girl hears of such facts--realises them too late. You smile. No, I
don't want to talk for effect; it isn't my way. All I mean is that
I, like so many girls who have never been in love, accepted an offer
of marriage on the wrong grounds, and came to feel my mistake--who
knows how?--not long after. What you are asking me to do, is to
pay for the innocent error with my life. The price is too great. You
speak of your feelings; they are not so strong as to justify such a
demand--And there's another thought that surely must have entered
your mind. Knowing that I feel it impossible to marry you, how can
you still, with any shadow of self-respect, urge me to do so? Is
your answer, again, fear of what people will say? That seems to me
more than cowardice. How strange that an honourable man doesn't see
it so!"
Jacks abandoned his easy posture, sat straight, and fixed upon her a
look of masculine disdain.
"I simply don't believe in the impossibility of your becoming my
wife."
"Then talk is useless. I can only tell you the truth, and reclaim my
liberty."
"It's a question of time. You wouldn't--well, say you couldn't
marry me to-morrow. A month hence you would be willing. Because you
suffer from a passing illusion, I am to unsettle all my arragements,
and face an intolerable humiliation.
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