'I dare say I have disgraced my sex, but not as they suppose. I feel my new self already, and can make the poor brute go through fire on behalf of the old. What is the task?—merely to drive a face!'
'It is not known.'
'It will be known.'
'But this is a sealed secret.'
'Nothing is a secret that has been spoken. It 's in the air, and I have to breathe to live by it. And I would rather it were out. “She betrayed him.” Rather that, than have them think—anything! They will exclaim, How could she! I have been unable to answer it to you—my own heart. How? Oh! our weakness is the swiftest dog to hunt us; we cannot escape it. But I have the answer for them, that I trust with my whole soul none of them would have done the like.'
'None, my Tony, would have taken it to the soul as you do.'
'I talk, dear. If I took it honestly, I should be dumb, soon dust. The moment we begin to speak, the guilty creature is running for cover. She could not otherwise exist. I am sensible of evasion when I open my lips.'
'But Tony has told me all.'
'I think I have. But if you excuse my conduct, I am certain I have not.'
'Dear girl, accounting for it, is not the same as excusing.'