"I can't think why I didn't," said the young man.
Mr. Mortimer frowned tremendously. He then took up a pencil and began with great freedom of style to draw on his blotting pad a portrait of no one in particular.
"Edward," he said, after he had continued to do this for several minutes, "I am afraid this is a difficult business."
"I am afraid so," said Edward Ambrose gravely. "And we have come to a very wise man to set it right for us. It oughtn't to be beyond your powers, ought it, having regard to the acknowledged character of the lady?"
"I fear," said Mr. Mortimer, "the character of the lady is too much acknowledged if the question of a divorce is running in your mind."
"Well, of course it is," said Edward Ambrose, with an air of deep disappointment as he looked at Henry Harper.
"I'll have a divorce if I can possibly get one," said the young man. "And I don't care what trouble I take or what it costs."
Mr. Mortimer continued to draw very spirited pictures on his blotting pad.
"Don't you advise it?" asked Edward Ambrose.
"Yes, I do, if we can get one. But in the special circumstances, it is going to prove uncommonly difficult, in fact, one might say impossible."