"No one knows better than you how impossible that is."
"Don't you trust her then—the woman you're asking to be your wife?"
The tinge of irony in her voice brought a sudden light of anger to his eyes.
"That's not very just of you, Adrienne," he said coldly. "I would trust her with my life. But I have no right to pledge the trust of others—and that's what I should be doing if I told her. We have our duty—you and I—and all this . . . is part of it."
Adrienne hesitated.
"Couldn't you—ask the others to release you?"
He shook his head.
"What right have I to ask them to trust an Englishwoman with their secret—just for my pleasure?"
"For your happiness," corrected Adrienne softly.
"Or for my happiness? My happiness doesn't count with them one straw."