A lie to her was abominable.

A lie, to be told by herself, would have been hideous to her.

A lie to be told by him, was worse.

As virtue, what she called virtue, was the one thing indispensable to women, so was truth the one thing indispensable to men.

And yet she must tell him to lie, and having resolved so to tell him, must use all her intellect to defend the lie,--and to insist upon it.
He was determined to return to Ireland, and there was nothing that she could do to prevent his return.