'She does not think of leaving you. We must consider how to arrange for her.'
'Has not Clement finished his terms? Could not he be franked out?'
'Is there not a simpler way? John, nothing would make me so happy as to leave that dear girl your wife.'
'But you go before the New Year. Father, it is not to be thought of,' he said, with a nervous movement of his right hand, which he could now partially use.
'There is no reason that I should not marry you as you lie there. She would consent.'
'Dearest! she would consent to anything she thought good for me, but the more reason that it cannot be thought of. Look at the wreck I am, and the glorious creature she is.'
'She would not accept that objection.'
'The more need that I should. Even if this place in my side do not, as I expect from day to day, gangrene and make an end of it at once, it can hardly be expected that there will not be some contraction or distortion to make an object of me.'
'Does Chenu tell you this?' asked his father, who had never had the chances so plainly set before him.
'No. Chenu does as well as any one can; but he has not the gift of foresight, and there is no use in taxing his French complaisance by asking questions that no one can answer,' he answered, with quiet calm and patience that almost overcame his father.