Stand back!... Let him among you who has a purer ideal of love, a higher conception of duty cast the first stone.
[All stop. Silenced.
Theodore
But this man and this woman would destroy marriage!
Judge
[standing beside lovers]
No! Such as they will not destroy marriage—they will save it! They restore the vital substance while we preserve the empty shell. Everything they have said, everything they have done, proves it. The promise to love—they could not help it—they took it—I heard them. The instinct for secrecy—they felt it—we all do—but straightway they told the next of kin. [Points to John.] Even when insulted and driven forth from the tribe, they indignantly refused to be driven into each other's arms until you of the same blood could hear them plight their troth! Believe in marriage? Why, there never was, there never will be a more perfect tribute to true marriage than from this fearless pair you now accuse of seeking to destroy it! [John tries to interrupt, but the Judge waves him down.] They have been not only honorable but old-fashioned, save in the one orthodox detail of accepting the authority constituted by society for its protection and for theirs. [To Helen and Ernest.] But now, I'm sure, before starting on their wedding journey—another old-fashioned convention they believe in—that, just to please us if not themselves, they will consent to be united in the bonds of holy wedlock by Cousin Theodore who stands ready and waiting with prayer-book in hand.
[Family subsides. Everybody happy. Theodore steps up, opens prayer-book.
Theodore
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God——"