It was a lie.

My wife, shamed or unshamed, humbled or unhumbled, true to her marriage vows or false to them, now legally the wife of another, has never ceased to be my wife.
And it is a higher law that corroborates me--higher than you can understand--a law unwritten because axiomatic; a law governing the very foundation of the social fabric, and on which that fabric is absolutely dependent for its existence intact.

But"-- with a contemptuous shrug--"you won't understand; all you can understand is the gratification of your senses and the fear of something interfering with that gratification--like death, for instance.

Therefore I am satisfied that you understand enough of what I said to discontinue any legal proceedings which would tend to discredit, expose, or cast odium on a young wife very sorely stricken--very, very ill--whom God, in his mercy, has blinded to the infamy where you have dragged her--under the law of the land." He turned on his heel, paced the little room once or twice, then swung round again: "Keep your filthy money--wrung from women and boys over card-tables.
Even if some blind, wormlike process of instinct stirred the shame in you, and you ventured to offer belated aid to the woman who bears your name, I forbid it--I do not permit you the privilege.

Except that she retains your name--and the moment you attempt to rob her of that I shall destroy you!--except for that, you have no further relations with her--nothing to do or undo; no voice as to the disposal of what remains of her; no power, no will, no influence in her fate.