"When I made a fool of myself.... There's no comparison. I was prepared to flout the Church and marry without dispensation; it wouldn't have been a valid marriage in the eyes of the Church, and the whole of Catholic society would have cut me. But I never offered Sonia to change one faith for another or to pretend that I had."
Jack sprang violently out of his chair and strode to Loring's sofa, standing over him with legs apart and arms akimbo.
"But if she'd insisted? You've got to be honest about this."
Loring looked up at the unwontedly white face and burning eyes above him; then he looked away, whistled to himself and shrugged his shoulders.
"I'd have done it," he answered.
"Well, that's how I feel now."
"And if Babs were married already?"
Jack turned away with a mirthless laugh.
"Damn you, Jim!" he cried.
"Not a bit of it! You would stop short of some things."