"Don't touch me--don't dare! You say you'll do everything a man can do. Does that mean you'll marry me?"
"Marry you! Mabel!"
"Don't you mean that you will marry me?"
"My dear girl, it's--it's impossible!"
"Why is it impossible? Are you married already?"
"Good Lord, no!"
"Then why can't you marry me?"
"As if you didn't know!"
"What do I know?"
"As if there weren't a thousand reasons! As if you weren't almost as well posted in my financial position as I am myself! As if you didn't know how hard I've found it to pay my way--that, in fact, I haven't paid it! If I were to marry you, financially there'd be an end of me; and in every other way! Not only should I be worse than penniless, but there'd be absolutely no prospect of my ever being anything else."