“And died just eight months ago. Rather conveniently, poor fellow.”
“Yes, I’m glad he is dead—poor Lawrence.”
“What is the shortest time in which a marriage can be arranged?”
“I do not know,” he answered listlessly. “I do not intend to marry her.”
“You would leave her to bear it alone?”
“It is not as if she were a poor woman. You can do anything with money.”
“It will not mend reputation. Her position in society is everything to that class of woman.”
“My marrying her now,” he pointed out, “would not save her.”
“Practically speaking it would,” the girl pleaded. “The world does not go out of its way to find out things it does not want to know. Marry her as quietly as possible and travel for a year or two.”
“Why should I? Ah! it is easy enough to call a man a coward for defending himself against a woman. What is he to do when he is fighting for his life? Men do not sin with good women.”