But, if Mildred still hesitated, Arthur did not. He was very anxious
that they should be married; indeed, he almost insisted on it. The
position was one that was far from being agreeable to him, for all
such intimacies must, from their very nature, necessitate a certain
amount of false swearing. They are throughout an acted lie; and, when
the lie is acted, it must sometimes be spoken. Now, this is a state of
affairs that is repugnant to an honourable man, and one that not
unfrequently becomes perfectly intolerable. Many is the love-affair
that comes to a sudden end because the man finds it impossible to
permanently constitute himself a peregrinating falsehood. But, oddly
enough, it has been found difficult to persuade the other contracting
party of the validity of the excuse, and, however unjust it may be,
one has known of men who have seen their defection energetically set
down to more vulgar causes.
Arthur was no exception to this rule. He found himself in a false
position, and he hated it. Indeed, he determined before long he would
place it before Mildred in the light of an alternative, that he should
either marry her, or that an end should be put to their existing
relations.
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