You might have known there was
some mistake."
"Pardon me," Ideala answered. "I ought to have known."
And then she had looked up at him and smiled, and never another doubt
had occurred to her.
"But, Ideala," I said to her, "you used the word 'immoral' just now.
You were talking at random, surely? You are nervous. For heaven's sake
collect yourself, and tell me what all this means."
"No, I am not nervous," she answered. "See! my hand is quite steady. It
is you who are trembling. I am calm now, and relieved, because I have
told you. But, oh! I am so sorry to give you pain."
"I do not yet understand," I answered, hoarsely.
"He wants me to give up everything, and go to him," she said; "but he
would not accept my consent until he had explained, and made me
understand exactly what I was doing. 'The world will consider it an
immoral thing,' he said, 'and so it would be if the arrangement were
not to be permanent. But any contract which men and women hold to be
binding on themselves should be sufficient now, and will be sufficient
again, as it used to be in the old days, provided we can show good
cause why any previous contract should be broken.
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