"It would kill her!"
"Nearly; but not quite. She has too much of her father in her for that.
And she must know. It is her right."
"And take away her every chance of happiness—and his of redemption."
"Her every chance of happiness is gone; as is his for redemption," she said, bitterly. And then: "He should have thought of these things before he did what he did…. There's one thing to be done, and only one. I shall tell her."
He remarked, slowly:
"The woman's way: To bring suffering where suffering might be spared."
She rounded on him, swiftly.
"The man's way: to stick to the husband, and deceive the wife…. You men have two codes of ethics—a loose, convenient one for yourselves, a tight, uncompromising one for us. There are no two codes of ethics. Right is right, and wrong is wrong; and there can be no compromise. When a man marries a woman, he owes to that woman every bit as much as she owes to him…. Suppose," she went on, tensely, "that it were Kathryn who had done this thing—who had lied and deceived where she had promised to love and honor. What then? Would you tell the husband, or wouldn't you?"
He considered; and said, slowly, positively:
"I'd lie like the devil."