“We have established a probationary period,” he said. “We have agreed to see a little more of one another. I drove her down to Ranelagh yesterday afternoon, and we are going to dine together to-night. What am I to do, Pauline? I have come to ask you. We must decide it together, you and I.”
She leaned a little forward in her chair. Her hands were clasped together. Her eyes were fixed on vacancy.
“It is a thunderbolt,” she murmured.
“It is amazing.”
“You must go back to her.”
Rochester drew a little breath between his teeth.
“Do you know what this means?” he asked.
“Yes, I know!” she answered. “And yet it is inevitable. What have you and I to look forward to? Sometimes I think that it is weakness to see so much of one another.”
“I am afraid,” Rochester said slowly, “that I would sooner have you for my dear friend, than be married to any woman who ever lived.”