"That would have been very wrong."
"We ain't getting no for'arder by discussing them things," he said, interrupting her. "We can't say good-bye after this evening and never see one another again."
"Why not? I'm nothing to you now; you've got a wife of your own; you've no claim upon me; you can go your way and I can keep to mine."
"There's that child. I must do something for him."
"Well, you can do something for him without ruining me."
"Ruining you, Esther?"
"Yes, ruining me. I ain't going to lose my character by keeping company with a married man. You've done me harm enough already, and should be ashamed to think of doing me any more. You can pay for the boy's schooling if you like, you can pay for his keep too, but you mustn't think that in doing so you'll get hold of me again."
"Do you mean it, Esther?"
"Followers ain't allowed where I am. You're a married man. I won't have it."
"But when I get my divorce?"