"If he hasn't moved against me since he married me,
he wouldn't dare do so now."
"Why hasn't he moved? Because you're a woman, and also he'd believe
you'd repent of your conduct. But I believe he will act sternly against
you at once. There is much at stake."
"You want it for your own sake," said Luzanne sharply. "You think he'd
marry you if I gave him up."
"Perhaps he'd ask me to marry him, if you weren't in the way, but I'd
have my own mind about that, and knowing what you've told me--truth or
lie--I'd weigh it all carefully. Besides, he's not the only man.
Doesn't that ever strike you? Why try to hold him by a spurious bond
when there are other men as good-looking, as clever? Is your world so
bare of men--no, I'm sure it isn't," she added, for she saw anger rising
in the impulsive girl. "There are many who'd want to marry you, and it's
better to marry some one who loves you than to hold to one who doesn't
love you at all. Is it hate? He saved your life--and that's how you
came to know him first, and now you would destroy him! He's a great man.
He would not bend to his father's will, and so he was left without a sou
of his father's money. All because he has a conscience, and an
independence worthy of the best that ever lived. . . . That's the
soul of the man you are trying to hurt. If you had a real soul, there
wouldn't be even the thought of this crime.
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