"Very well."
"One thing more. Don't think because quarantine is mentioned in the story that it is my story. That is buried deeper. Now we will begin."
[THE DOCTOR'S FIRST STORY]
I
They had gone off, taken the almost matter-of-course flight. An outcry rang through their social circle; people pressed their hands to the region of their heart, shuddered, lamented, condemned, according as each had figured to him or herself the terrible tragedy which had been played; two hearts had been torn asunder, two families raged against each other; there was a lonely husband and a deserted child; a desolate home, a career destroyed, entangled affairs which could not be put straight, and broken friendships. Two men were sitting in a restaurant and discussing the affair.
"But why did they run away? I think it disgusting!"
"On the contrary! I consider that ordinary decency requires that they should leave the field to the irreproachable husband; then at any rate they need not meet in the streets. Besides, it is more honest to be divorced than to form an illicit tie."
"But why could they not keep their faith and vows? We for our part hold out for life through grief and joy."
"Yes, and how does it look afterwards? Like an old bird's-nest in autumn! Other times, other manners."