“My dear Nevil, are you in a state of delusion? Renée denies...”
“There’s no delusion, Roland. I am determined to stop a catastrophe. I see it as plainly as those Alps. There is only one way, and that’s the one I have chosen.”
“Chosen! my friend. But allow me to remind you that you have others to consult. And Renée herself...”
“She is a girl. She loves me, and I speak for her.”
“She has said it?”
“She has more than said it.”
“You strike me to the deck, Nevil. Either you are downright mad—which seems the likeliest, or we are all in a nightmare. Can you suppose I will let my sister be carried away the deuce knows where, while her father is expecting her, and to fulfil an engagement affecting his pledged word?”
Beauchamp simply replied:
“Come to her.”