"Here they are. If Hilda disliked tobacco, she should have said so, then; and she probably did. When she found Mr. Page would not give up the habit, she should have weighed the question in her mind as to whether the matter of smoking were going to affect her happiness seriously. If she thought it would, she should have broken her engagement. The great point is, that if she decided to marry him she should have realized that she took him as he was, tobacco and all, and would be likely to have rather more than less of it for the rest of her life."
"A man is a selfish brute," remarked Gorham.
"Sometimes; but he has the same right a woman has to choose between his habit and his love; that is, if the woman speaks in time."
"Hilda does not particularly dislike cigar smoke," said Page, "but she thinks smoking is bad for Robert. I wonder if all men are as thick-skinned as you say. Now, there is Jack. Do you believe he would not fling all his cigars into the lake for—for you?"
"Yes, indeed; so long as there were plenty more to be had."
"No, Mrs. Van Tassel, be serious; and for the moment pardon personalities. If Jack were engaged to you"—
He waited, gazing at Clover. She smiled at him and said, "Well, if Jack were engaged to me?"
Page swallowed some impediment to speech.
"And you should earnestly ask him not to smoke, can you doubt the result?"
Clover shrugged her shoulders. "No, I am afraid I can't. Jack is a gentleman, and such an impulsive, affectionate fellow, I know pretty well what he would do, supposing of course that he were very earnestly and deeply in love with me."