After a short silence she murmured: "And is there no way out?"
"I imagine there is; but you see, I've not had much to do with matrimonial intricacies,—I believe, I could divorce you—for desertion!"
"Oh!" putting her hands up to cover her face, "and it would be in all the papers!"
"It would; and probably headed, 'Great military scandal,' and illustrated with our portraits."
"And what would Mrs. De Wolfe say?"
"Mrs. De Wolfe can stand a good deal,—she's had some pretty bad shocks in her time; and is a regular old brick; and you would achieve notoriety!—Then on the other hand, I might give you reason to divorce me," and he looked at Nancy with keen significance.
Nancy blushed to the roots of her hair: her very ears were red.
"But make your mind easy," he continued, "I am not going to wade through mud,—even to break our chain."
"And is there no way out of it?" she repeated with a sort of sob.
"I'm afraid not. With every good intention, your father and I made a serious mistake. It is not so easy, to order the lives of other people,—each must go his own road. You have no wish to walk in mine; or I in yours. I don't want you as a wife,—official or otherwise,—and I have excellent reason to know, that you have no desire to play the rôle of Mrs. Mayne."