"I think I should go near dying myself," said he, "if you were a disgrace to me." He had not risen from his chair, and sat calmly looking up into her face.
"We have made a mistake, and let us unmake it," she continued. "I will always be your friend. I will correspond with you. I will come and see your wife."
"That will be very kind!"
"Charles, if you laugh at me, I shall be angry with you. It is right that you should look to your future life, as it is right that I should do so also. Do you think that I am joking? Do you suppose that I do not mean it?"
"You have taken an extra dose this morning of Wallachia Petrie, and of course you mean it."
"If you think that I am speaking her mind and not my own, you do not know me."
"And what is it you propose?" he said, still keeping his seat and looking calmly up into her face.
"Simply that our engagement should be over."
"And why?"
"Because it is not a fitting one for you to have made. I did not understand it before, but now I do. It will not be good for you to marry an American girl. It will not add to your happiness, and may destroy it. I have learned, at last, to know how much higher is your position than mine."