"Then think of me no more," she answered, "for I do—if I know love at all. Is not the moon constant to earth and sun? A woman can love two men—as easily as a man can love two women. You couldn't—I know that; but you're not everybody. Most men can. Christianity has made a noble, exalted thing of love, and I was born into the Christian view. Yet I'm unfortunately a barbarian by instinct. Just an accidental primitive heathen who has cropped up in a respectable family. You can't alter any particular cranky nature by pruning. Oh, dear Myles, if I could marry you both! You for the working weeks and Christo for Sundays and holidays!"
He merely gasped.
"Yet I love to think you love me. But you know what naughty children say when they're crossed? I can't have you both, so I won't have either."
"This you say for love of him?"
"Don't trouble to find reasons. At any rate I'm speaking the truth. Should I have confessed to such a depraved and disgraceful frame of mind to a man I love if I had not been deadly serious despite laughter? Hate me, if you must, but I don't deserve it. I would marry you and be a good wife too; but there's a sort of sense of justice hid in me. Christo noticed it. So don't drive me into marriage, Myles dear."
"You love him better than me at any rate?"
"Arithmetic can't be brought to bear upon the question. I love you both."
There was a pause; then she added suddenly—
"And if there were a hundred more men like you and Christopher, I should love them all. But there are no more."
"You've got a big heart, Honor."