Judith halted under the great cedar; green grass stretched brilliant at her feet; the western sunlight shone upon her face.
“Your very words betray you. You are flippant.”
“Men are often flippant when they are most in earnest,” he answered her. “Little woman, you create moral problems unnecessarily.”
Judith withstood him, gracious and beautifully eager.
“I will ask you a simple question,” she said. “Would you be happier if at this moment you were free?”
He hung his head and looked into the gloom of the trees.
“No one is free from the cradle. We are beset by eternal obligations.”
“You prevaricate.”
“Life is one long obligation. I only maintain the inevitable.”
“Gabriel, break off this alliance.”