“You see it’s this way. I don’t mind your running Phil down, if it gives you any pleasure, but you might as well know that I don’t share your opinions. He isn’t your sort, you don’t understand him, and he has managed to come between you and Jane. But I don’t see the slightest use in getting excited. These silly romantic affairs of the teens are seldom really dangerous. Phil’s infirmities excited her pity.”
“His infirmities!”
“Yes, but Jane Loring isn’t the kind of a girl to put up with that kind of thing long.”
“Rather—not!”
“Oh, I don’t mean what you do. I mean that she isn’t suited to him, that’s all. There are other women who might marry him and make something of him.”
“Who?” he sneered.
“I,” she said calmly.
Her quiet tone transfixed him.
“You want to—to marry him?”
“Yes—and I’m going to. Perhaps you understand now how we can help each other.”