“Warning? To flee away, and never clear Archie! What are you about, Julius? He ought to be exposed at once, if he cannot be made to suffer otherwise.”
“Nay, Jenny, that would be hard measure.”
“Hard measure!” she interrupted; “what has my innocent Archie had?”
“Think of the old man, his wife and daughter, Jenny.”
“She’s a Proudfoot.—And that girl the scandal of the country! You want to sacrifice Archie to them, Julius?”
“You are tired and shaken, Jenny, or you would see that all I want to do is to act with common consideration and honour.”
She interrupted again. “What honour do you mean? You are not making it a secret of the confessional?”
“You are misunderstanding me, Joanna,” Julius gently said. “Herbert’s vigil spared me from that difficulty, but—”
“Then you would have sacrificed Archie to this imaginary—”
“Hush, Jenny! I fear he is wandering again. Alas! it is the sad old refrain!”