"It involves intimacies that would be a desecration otherwise. Oh, Ynys, do you not understand?"
"It is a matter of the inner life. Men so rarely believe in the hidden loyalty of the heart. It is possible for a woman to fulfil a bond and yet not be a bondswoman. Outer circumstances have little to do with the inner life, with the real self."
"In a word, then, if you married Andrik you would remain absolutely mine, not only if I were dead, but if perchance the rumor were untrue and I came back, though too late?"
"Yes."
"Absolutely?"
"Absolutely."
"And you profoundly know, Ynys, that in no conceivable circumstances can Andrik be to you what I am, or any thing for a moment approaching it?"
"I do know it."
"Although he were your husband?"
"Although he were my husband."