"I am glad, Phil, because I believe you are as truly devoted to her as she is to you.

And when the time comes--if God spares you both----" "You are mistaken," he said quietly, "there is no future before us." She coloured in consternation.

"Wh--why I certainly supposed--believed----" "Celia!" "W-what, dear ?" "Don't you _know_ I cannot marry ?" "Why not, Philip ?" "Could I marry Ailsa Craig unless I first told her that my father and my mother were never married ?" he said steadily.
"Oh, Philip!" she cried, tears starting to her eyes again, "do you think that would weigh with a girl who is so truly and unselfishly in love with you ?" "You don't understand," he said wearily.

"I'd take _that_ chance now.

But do you think me disloyal enough to confess to any woman on earth what my mother, if she were living, would sacrifice her very life to conceal ?" He bent his head, supporting it in his hands, speaking as though to himself: "I believe that the brain is the vehicle, not the origin of thought.