"I shall say, 'Don't!'"
"Don't go on with it, that is?"
"Exactly. I shan't mince matters. I shall tell the girl flatly that I think she's doing wrong...."
"But why—but why? Surely if she is, I am. Or more so! Far more so!"
"Do you suppose I regard you as a responsible agent?"
"I don't think you do. But I am one, for all that. What shall you say to Judith?"
"That I do regard her as a responsible agent. I shall entreat her not to consent to such a mad scheme. I shall try to make her see the folly of acting under panic in a matter of such vital importance. I shall tell her plainly, as I told you an hour ago, that I think your wife's action has been justifiable, although it has been violent and exaggerated. I admit that, you know...."
"And I think that it has been violent and exaggerated, but admit that it has not been altogether unjustifiable. Isn't that the difference between us, Rector?"
"Precisely. Well!—I shall say so to Judith. And I shall put it this way to her. 'If before God and your conscience you can disclaim all share in what has come about, if you have never by word or look been guilty of an attempt to make this man's plighted faith to his wife a wavering one, then it may be you may marry him and not live to repent it. But if it is otherwise, you may be sowing by such a marriage the seeds of a remorse that may last you a life-time.'..."
Challis interrupted him. "Judith is absolutely unconscious...." he began.