“Yes.”

“Then if a man violates the seventh, why shouldn't he be compelled to make restitution, too?”

“What restitution could he make?”

“Not much. He has taken from the girl he marries her name, her innocence, her youth—he can restore only one thing—her freedom.”

“That is not for him to restore. 'What, therefore, God hath joined, let not man put asunder.'”

The old man grew majestic when he thundered the sonorities of Holy Writ. Charity was cowed, but she made a craven protest:

“But who is to say what God hath joined?”

“The marriage sacraments administered by the ordained clergy established that. There is every warrant for clergymen to perform marriages; no Christian clergyman pretends to undo them.”

“You believe that marriage is an indissoluble sacrament, then?”

“Indeed I do.”