"Lawfully!" she repeated. "Can you not do so manfully, as it is?"
"No—not without the interfering claims and assertions of your family!"
"I have no real family. And those whom you call such are without the right of either claim or assertion, as regards any question of what I choose or do not choose to do!"
He still retained her hands; he put his lips against her cheek; he would not let her withdraw, though she made a kind of aggrieved effort to do so.
"They have no rights, Pauline, and yet they would overwhelm me with obloquy! As your husband—once as your wedded, chosen husband, what should I care for them all? I would laugh at them! Make it to-morrow! Then see how I will play my wife's part, and fight her battle!..."
They talked for some time after this in lowered tones.... Pauline was in a wholly new mood when she at length said,—
"To-morrow, then, if you choose."
"You mean it? You promise it?"
"I mean it—and I promise it, since you seem so doubtful."
"I am doubtful," he exclaimed, kissing her, "because I can scarcely dream that this sudden happiness has fallen to me from the stars!..."