"Ah, we're tainted—all!"
They walked in silence part of the way to the old portico; then Spencer Coyle, stopping short after having assured himself that he was at a sufficient distance from the house not to be heard, suddenly put the question: "What does Miss Julian say?"
"Miss Julian?" Owen had perceptibly coloured.
"I'm sure she hasn't concealed her opinion."
"Oh, it's the opinion of the family circle, for she's a member of it of course. And then she has her own as well."
"Her own opinion?"
"Her own family circle."
"Do you mean her mother—that patient lady?"
"I mean more particularly her father, who fell in battle. And her grandfather, and his father, and her uncles and great-uncles—they all fell in battle."
"Hasn't the sacrifice of so many lives been sufficient? Why should she sacrifice you?"