"How long will he live?"
"Madam, I am not omniscient. I have once, within your knowledge, failed as a prophet; I should not care to fail again."
"Is he dying?"
"I may venture to say that, at the present moment, to the best of my knowledge and belief, he is not."
"You are beating about the bush. You can at least say if he is likely to live long."
"It is possible, madam, that he may outlive me--even you."
"Then you have cheated me!--cheated me! You have got me into this mess by your lies."
"Any injustice I may have done you was unintentional. You will also be so good as to observe that I have just now offered you something which was intended to be in the nature of a loophole out of the dilemma in which you are placed."
"You mean when you asked me if I wanted to be his wife. Am I his wife, or am I not?"
"It might present a pretty point for the lawyers. If you had chosen to repudiate the connection, it might not have been easy to establish. Nannie and I can hold our tongues--that I beg you to believe. The occasion for a wife having passed, he might have preferred to hold his too."