"No, I don't." Her recalcitrance angered him.
"You must. Jimmy," softly, "you do want me to be happy with you, don't you?"
"Of course I want you to be happy with me." His anger relented. "I'd do anything in the world to make you happy."
"Would you, dear?"
"Rather. Only tell me what it is."
"It's only Alie." Loyalty strung her to the sacrifice. "Only Alie. Can't you do something for her? You're a lawyer; you know how these things are managed. Oh, do, please do something to help her, to help"--the young voice dwindled to a whisper--"to help both of us. Jimmy, I do want to marry you. I want to marry you most awfully. But I simply can't even promise to marry you with things as they are. It wouldn't be decent of me. Honestly it wouldn't. It wouldn't be decent of either of us. It wouldn't be playing the game."
They faced each other, half in love and half in hostility.
"You really mean that, Mollie?"
"Yes, I really mean it."
"And if I could manage to do anything?"