Miss L. Nothing. It was too late to do anything.
Stonor. It wasn't too late! You knew—since you "read the papers"—that my father died that same year. There was no longer any barrier between us.
Miss L. Oh yes, there was a barrier.
Stonor. Of your own making, then.
Miss L. I had my guilty share in it—but the barrier (her voice trembles)—the barrier was your invention.
Stonor. It was no "invention." If you had ever known my father——
Miss L. Oh, the echoes! The echoes! How often you used to say, if I "knew your father!" But you said, too (lower)—you called the greatest barrier by another name.
Stonor. What name?
Miss L. (very low). The child that was to come.
Stonor (hastily). That was before my father died. While I still hoped to get his consent.