He frowned slightly and a shadow as of pain passed over his face. The girl was watching him with the calm content of one who trusts.
“You shall judge,” he said, “whether I desire to do you wrong or no. I thought once that I had no right to be near you, to hear you speak to me. It is the common verdict of the world that a man may not hold another woman to be nearer to his soul than is his wife. You understand me?”
“Yes,” she said, slowly, still looking in his face.
“Do you remember how the stars make one feel at night?”
“Well enough.”
“A yearning towards all that is noble, pure, and divine. Is there any evil in such a feeling?”
“How can there be?”
“And there are people in the world who seem to hang like stars over one’s soul. Is there sin in desiring to be near them, to be inspired towards truth by their beauty?”
“I cannot think it.”
“Nor I.”