"And leave his house as bare as your hand? There's nothing in it that isn't precious." Fleda wondered. "The other day?"!

"Marry him if he were to ask me? Most distinctly not!" "What else can I really pretend when you threaten so to cast me off if I speak the word myself?"

"Well, those things are between yourselves, and you seem to me both poor creatures at best." Mrs. Gereth spoke with a rich humor which tipped with light for an instant a real conviction. "I don't know what you've got in your veins: you absurdly exaggerated the difficulties. But enough is as good as a feast, and when once I get you abroad together—!" She checked herself as if from excess of meaning; what might happen when she should get them abroad together was to be gathered only from the way she slowly rubbed her hands. "Then you think he lies when he tells you that he has recovered his liberty?" "I don't give it up—I never did," Fleda returned.