He was surprised at her firmness, and it was only when he hinted at moral reasons for their union that she was ever shaken.

'Strictly speaking,' he would say, 'we ought, as honest persons, to marry; and that's the truth of it, Leonora.' 'I have looked at it in that light,' she said quickly.

'It struck me at the very first.

But I don't see the force of the argument.

I totally deny that after this interval of time I am bound to marry you for honour's sake.