"Just so, Fred; even if you loved him like your own, you can't make sure that he'd love you."
"Jackie and I——"
"Ah, yes; he'd have liked you well enough if he'd never seen his father. But he's that keen on his father, and it would be worse later on. He'd never be contented in our 'ome. He'd be always after him, and then I should never see him, and he would be led away into betting and drink."
"If his father is that sort of man, the best chance for Jackie would be to keep him out of his way. If he gets divorced and marries another woman he will forget all about Jackie."
"Yes, that might be," said Esther, and Fred pursued his advantage. But, interrupting him, Esther said—
"Anyway, Jackie would lose all his father's money; the public-house would—"
"So you're going to live in a public-house, Esther?"
"A woman must be with her husband."
"But he's not your husband; he's another woman's husband."
"He's to marry me when he gets his divorce."