“Then I fear that I shall have no chance against her—none!”
“You are a fool! if you were alone in the same room with her, nobody would see her for looking at you.”
Angela sighed again, this time from relief.
“But there is worse than that; very possibly he has married her.”
“Ah! then it is all over!”
“Why? If he loves you as much as you think, you can bring him back to you, married or unmarried.”
“Perhaps. Yes, I think I could; but I would not.”
“Why? If he loves you and you love him, you have a right to him. Among all the shams and fictions that we call laws, there is only one true— the law of Nature, by virtue of which you belong to each other.”
“No, there is a higher law—the law of duty, by means of which we try to curb the impulses of Nature. The woman who has won him has a right to consideration.”
“Then, to gratify a foolish prejudice, you are prepared to lose him forever?”