8/15 If she had been a little female costermonger she would have demanded her 'marriage lines' and clung to them fiercely. She would have known that to be able to flaunt them in the face of argument was indispensable." "She probably did not know that there existed such documents," the Duchess said. "Neither of the pair knew anything for the time but that they were wild with love and were to be torn apart." "Therefore," he said with distinctness even clearer and harder, "she must possess indisputable documentary evidence of marriage before the child is born--as soon as possible." "Marriage!" she hesitated aghast. "But _who_ will-- ?" "I," he answered with absolute rigidity. |