"You found it out!"
"Yes, she asked me to go to a dinner party. Her husband was away from town—there were four of us—and I could tell what it meant. She wanted me to do what she was doing—and we had been friends so long—we took our first communion together."
"Georgia," he asked, chilled through with fright, "do you often have that sort of thing put in your way?"
"I have plenty of chances to make a mess of life," she replied, "every woman does, who's passable looking, especially downtown women."
"Dearest heart," he begged, "I can't go on thinking of that the rest of my life. Marry me and let me shield and shelter you from all this——"
"This what?"
"Temptation," he blurted, "and rotten, unwomanly down-town life. A woman ought to be taken care of, in her own home, by the man who loves her and respects and honors her."
Georgia smiled. "Do you know," she asked, "that's almost exactly word for word the way he talked to this friend of mine and persuaded her to get her divorce and leave the Church and marry him—almost word for word—she told me about it at the time. And now she's—fooling him. It didn't shield her from temptation."
"But I have known people to be divorced and marry again and live perfectly happy and respectable lives."
"Protestants—weren't they?" she asked.