"If he did—"
"Isabelle, he saw you and Tom, here, the afternoon Tom came!"
She flushed and drew herself away from her brother's arms.
"I know it—it was the first time that—that anything happened! … If he cared, why didn't he say something then, do something, strike me—"
"That is not right, Belle; you know he is not that kind of animal."
"If a man cares for a woman, he hasn't such godlike control! … No, John wants to preserve appearances, to have things around him smooth,—he's too cold to care!"
"That's ungenerous."
"Haven't I lived with him years enough to know what is in his heart? He hates scandal. That's his nature,—he doesn't want unpleasant words, a fuss. There won't be any, either…. But I'm not the calculating kind, Vick. If I do it, I do it for the whole world to know and to see. I'm not Conny,—no sneaking compromises; I'll do it as you did it,—for the whole world to see and know."
"But you'll not do it!"
"You think I haven't the courage? You don't know me, Vick. I am not a girl any longer. I am thirty-two, and I know life now, my life at any rate…. It was all wrong between John and me from the beginning,—yes, from the beginning!"