'Why not?'
'It is too late.'
'How too late?'
'I have promised Drownlands to remain with him at Prickwillow, and take care of his house as long as he lives.'
'That won't hold. If I make you my wife'—
'That cannot be.'
'Cannot be?—it shall be.'
'No, Mark, I gave you up. I gave up my thoughts of you as a husband in order to get Ki Drownlands to desist from appearing against you in court.'
'He could have done nothing.'