"He has deceived me."
"Usselex?"
"Who else is there whose deception I would notice?"
"You are mistaken, Eden; it is my fault; he consulted me in the matter——"
"He consulted you? But how is such a thing possible. He never could have consulted you, and if he had you would not have listened."
"Ah! but I did though. Between ourselves I thought it not uninteresting. After all, it was not his fault. I thought it unadvisable that you should learn of it before marriage, and afterwards, well, afterwards, it was immaterial whether you did or whether you didn't."
"Father, either it is not you that speak, or I am demented."
"There, my dear, don't take it so seriously. I can't call it an everyday matter, of course, but such things do happen, and as I said before, a man's a man for all of that. If he said nothing it was because—well, Eden, how could he? Ask yourself, how could he?"
"You knew of this before my marriage and you permitted the marriage to take place?"
"Well—er, yes, Eden. Frankly now, it was a difficult matter to discuss with you. You see, it was this way: a young girl like yourself, brought up as you have been, is apt to have prejudices which men and women of the world do not always share. And this is a case in point. Even now that you are married I can understand your disapproval, but——"