"I do! I think so very strongly indeed. But--but--I was over persuaded. As you know, I tried at the very last moment; even then I failed. Besides, it was suggested to me that marriage might be the turning point, and that the woman might be different from the girl. Don't misunderstand me! She is not a bad girl; she is a good girl in the best possible sense, a girl in a million! No better daughter ever lived; you won't find a better wife if you search the whole world through; There is just this one point. Some people are somnambulists; in a sense she is a somnambulist too. I tell you I might put this watch upon the table"--Mr. Staunton produced his watch from his waistcoat pocket--"and she would take it from right underneath my nose, and never know what it was that she had done. I confess I can't explain it, but so it is!"
"I think," remarked Mr. Burgoyne, with a certain dryness, "that I had better see this doctor fellow--Muir."
"See him--by all means, see him. There is one point, Burgoyne. I realised from the first that if we kept you in the dark about this thing, and it forced itself upon you afterwards, you would be quite justified in feeling aggrieved."
"You realised that, did you? You did get so far?"
"And therefore I say this, that, although my child has only been your wife these few short days, although she loves you as truly as woman ever loved a man--and what strength of love she has I know--still, if you are minded to put her from you, I will not only not endeavour to change your purpose, but I will never ask you for a penny for her support--she shall be to you as though she had never lived."
Mr. Burgoyne looked his father-in-law in the face.
"No man shall part me from my wife, nor anything--but death." Mr. Burgoyne turned a little aside. "I believe I love her better because of this. God knows I loved her well enough before."
"I can understand that easily. Because of this she is dearer to us, too."
There was silence. Moving to the table, Mr. Burgoyne began to replace the things in the bag.
"I will go and see this man Muir."