"You are generous enough to care, Ledwith."
"I am not!" he said, hoarsely. "I don't care a damn!"
"Then why do you care whether or not he keeps his word to her and shares with her a coat of social whitewash?"
"I—she is only a little fool—alone to face the world now——"
"You're quite right, Ledwith. She ought to have another chance. First offenders are given it by law.... But even if that chance lay in his marrying her, could you better it by killing him if he won't do it? Or by battering him with a dog-whip?
"It isn't really much of a chance, considering it on a higher level than the social viewpoint. How much real rehabilitation is there for a woman who marries such a man?"
He smiled: "Because," he continued, "my viewpoint has changed. Things that once seemed important to me seem so no longer. To live cleanly and do your best in the real world is an aspiration more attractive to me than social absolution."
Ledwith remained silent for a long while, then muttered something indistinctly.
"Wait a moment," said Quarren, throwing aside his painter's blouse and pulling on his coat. "I'll ring up a taxi in a second!... You mean it, Ledwith?"
The man looked at him vacantly, then nodded.