“What?”
“Let her marry him.”
“Henry!” Mrs. Loring sat bolt upright on her couch, her eyes wide with incomprehension. “What do you mean?”
“What I say,” he returned calmly.
“That—Jane—should—marry Phil Gallatin?”
He nodded.
“You’re mad!” she said, getting up and facing him. “Stark mad! When you learned about them, you told me you’d rather see her dead than married to him.”
“Now I’d rather see her married to him than dead. It’s simple enough. I’ve changed my mind.”
“Am I taking leave of my senses—or are you?”
“Neither, Mother,” he went over to her, his huge frame towering above her small body as his mind towered over hers, and took her gently by the elbows. “I’ve made a mistake. So have you. But it’s not too late to mend it. I say that if Jane wants Phil Gallatin, she shall have him.”