serious blemish. It is as if you owed a debt. Perhaps no one
will ever come to claim it; on the other hand, perhaps a pitiless
creditor will come all at once, presenting a brutal demand for
immediate payment. Come now--you are a business man. Marriage
is a contract; to marry without saying anything--that means to
enter into a bargain by means of passive dissimulation. That's
the term, is it not? It is dishonesty, and it ought to come
under the law."

George, being a lawyer, could appreciate the argument, and could
think of nothing to say to it.

"What shall I do?" he asked.

The other answered, "Go to your father-in-law and tell him
frankly the truth."

"But," cried the young man, wildly, "there will be no question
then of three or four years' delay. He will refuse his consent
altogether."

"If that is the case," said the doctor, "don't tell him anything."

"But I have to give him a reason, or I don't know what he will
do. He is the sort of man to give himself to the worst violence,
and again my fiancee would be lost to me. Listen, doctor. From
everything I have said to you, you may perhaps think I am a
mercenary man. It is true that I want to get along in the world,
that is only natural. But Henriette has such qualities; she is
so much better than I, that I love her, really, as people love in