"Lately! It's nearly eight year ago."
"And all that time you've been a good woman?"
"Yes, I think I've been that."
"Then if—"
"I don't want no ifs. If I am not good enough for you, you can go elsewhere and get better; I've had enough of reproaches."
"I did not mean to reproach you; I know that a woman's path is more difficult to walk in than ours. It may not be a woman's fault if she falls, but it is always a man's. He can always fly from temptation."
"Yet there isn't a man that can say he hasn't gone wrong."
"No, not all, Esther."
Esther looked him full in the face.
"I understand what you mean, Esther, but I can honestly say that I never have."