"As plainly as you please, Honor. Your opinion will not be despised, I promise you."
"Well, then—is it fair on Evelyn to make her upbringing responsible for such a serious turn of the wheel? Would you give her no voice in the matter—treat her as if she were a mere child?"
"She is very little more than a child."
"Indeed, Theo, she is a great deal more. She is a woman, ... and a wife. The woman's soul isn't fully awake in her yet; but it may come awake any day. And then—how would she feel if she ever found out——"
"She never would——"
"How can you tell? Women find out most things about the men they—care for. It's a risk not worth running. Would she even acquiesce if you put the matter before her now, child as she is?"
"Frankly, I don't know. Possibly not. She isn't able to see ahead much, or look all round a subject."
"Shall you be very angry if I say that you haven't yet looked thoroughly round this one? The idea probably came to you as an impulse—a very fine impulse, I admit; and, instead of fairly weighing pros and cons, you have simply been hunting up excuses that will justify you in carrying it out; because, for the moment, Evelyn seems a little discontented with things in general."
The hard lines about his mouth relaxed.
"You are speaking straight with a vengeance, Honor!"