There was a pause. Then Martyn remarked: “Negligible, I should think.”
“Possibly, as a personality. But as a man and a husband, he exists. It is even conceivable that he has feelings.”
“Oh, feelings!” said Sallie and Martyn, more or less together.
The tone of each expressed the utmost contempt.
“Some people might even go so far as to say that he has rights.”
“To a certain extent, so he has,” said Sallie, evidently determined to be broad-minded.
“Presumably she made the usual undertakings when she married him. But from all accounts, they’ve each gone their own way ever since they married. From a sentimental point of view, it can hardly matter what she does now. Perhaps she’s working up for a divorce.”
“If so, it’s bad luck on Patch. He can’t want to marry her.”
But to that Sallie replied thoughtfully, “I’m not so sure.”
“Are they together a great deal?” Martyn queried. “Mrs. Kendal speaks as though they were never to be seen apart, but she bases that upon their having gone into the butcher’s shop at the same time, which she appears to regard as peculiarly incriminating.”