"Let her think so!"
"It is very well for you to talk in this way," she says, with passionate reproach. "You are a man—you may defy the opinion of the world; but is it so easy for me?"
"Why should her opinion concern either you or me?" he inquires, gravely. "What is she to either of us? Did not you last night, with your own ears, hear my dismissal pronounced?"
She stoops her head until her hat almost conceals her face from him.
"She was angry," she says, in a low voice; "she will be sorry for the things she said; she will forgive you."
"Will she?" he answers, quietly smiling. "I think not; to tell you the truth, I don't mean to ask her."
She lifts her face, suddenly earnest, to him.
"You must!" she says, eagerly. "You must explain to her, as you tried to do last night, that what happened then" (a painful blush) "is no possible reason why her engagement to you should be broken off. You must convince her of this—you must, indeed; for my sake you must!"
He looks down, frowning heavily.
"When a galley-slave's chains have been knocked off, must he handcuff himself again?"