22/97 Even should she place herself in a doubtful position, her honour calls to his honour. This is a call which may not be--_must_ not be--unanswered. Even passion must pause for at least a while at sound of such a trumpet-call. Her youth and beauty; her manifest ignorance of evil; her superb disdain of convention, which could only come through hereditary dignity; her terrible fear and suffering--for there must be more in her unhappy condition than meets the eye--would all demand respect, even if one did not hasten to yield it. I certainly did feel a fool when making it, also a cad. |