"Yes?" she said.
The Judge flushed as his eyes met hers. Good man ... it embarrassed him to meet the eyes of one of his own womenkind whose wedded husband had actually embraced an "abandoned minx" under their own roof. Charlotte had termed Belinda Horton an "abandoned minx." The Judge considered the term apposite. So Belinda figured thus in their thoughts from that moment. But all this came too perilously near to mentioning the seventh commandment in "the presence of a lady" not to cause the dear, old-fashioned man acute discomfort.
"Well, Joe?" said Sophy again, as he hesitated.
"It's ... it's all ... mighty involved, Sophy," he stammered, looking down at the snowstorm paper-weight which he had picked up and was turning nervously round and round.
"Yes, Joe. I know that," she said gravely. "That's what I want you to help me about."
"Divorce is a mighty serious—er—ugly thing...."
"But not as ugly as marriage that is no marriage, Joe."
The Judge rumpled his smoky wreath the wrong way.
"Yes ... I know how you must feel...." he admitted unhappily.
"No, Joe. Nobody but a woman can know how she feels," put in Charlotte, reddening in her turn.