"You must wait until I am free, though my marriage is no tie; it has never been one—after the first year. I will tell you the whole story, if you want to hear it—but I wish to forget it all—only it is fair for you to know there is no disgrace connected with it in any way."
"I should not care one atom if there were," Henry said, ecstatically. "You yourself could never have touched any disgrace. Your eyes are as pure as the stars!"
"I was extremely ignorant and foolish, as one is at seventeen. And now I want to make something of life—some great thing—and your goodness and your high and fine ideals will help me."
"My dearest!" he had cried fervently.
Sabine had said to the Princess that night, as they talked in their sitting-room:
"Do you know, Morri, I have almost decided to marry this Englishman—some day. You have often told me I was foolish not to free myself from any bonds, however lightly they held me—and I have never wanted to—but now I do—at once—as soon as possible—before—my husband can suggest being free of me! I have written to Mr. Parsons already—and I suppose it will not take very long. The laws there, I believe, are not so binding as in England—" and then she stopped short.
"The laws—where?" Moravia could not refrain from asking; her curiosity had at last won the day.
"In Scotland, Morri. He was a Scotchman, not an American at all as every one supposes."
The Princess' eyes opened wide—and she had to bite her lips to keep from asking more.
"I have never seen him since the day after we were married—there cannot be any difficulty about getting a divorce—can there?"