“Perhaps more than you yet understand. Perhaps more than you can understand.”
“I will believe that, Rhoda. I know, at all events, that it is something of inestimable price. The knowledge has grown in me for a year and more.”
“Let me stand away from you again. There is something more to be said before—No, let me be quite apart from you.”
He released her after one more kiss.
“Will you answer me a question with perfect truthfulness?”
Her voice was not quite steady, but she succeeded in looking at him with unflinching eyes.
“Yes. I will answer you any question.”
“That is spoken like a man. Tell me then—is there at this moment any woman living who has a claim upon you—a moral claim?”
“No such woman exists.”
“But—do we speak the same language?”