"Think of a man whose life has been one of alternate hardness and aggression, of savage disappointment and equally savage successes, who has known no other relaxation than dissipation and extravagance; a man to whom the idea of the domestic hearth and family ties only meant weakness, effeminacy, or--worse; who had looked for loyalty and devotion only in the man who battled for him at his right hand in danger, or shared his privations and sufferings.

Think of such a man, and imagine that an accident has suddenly placed him in an atmosphere of purity, gentleness, and peace, surrounded him by the refinements of a higher life than he had ever known, and that he found himself as in a dream, on terms of equality with a pure woman who had never known any other life, and yet would understand and pity his.

Imagine his loving her! Imagine that the first effect of that love was to show him his own inferiority and the immeasurable gulf that lay between his life and hers! Would he not fly rather than brave the disgrace of her awakening to the truth?
Would he not fly rather than accept even the pity that might tempt her to a sacrifice ?" "But--is Mr.Falkner all that ?" "Nothing of the kind, I assure you!" said he demurely.

"But that's the way a man in love feels." "Really! Mr.Falkner should get you to plead his cause with Kate," said Mrs.Hale with a faint laugh.
"I need all my persuasive powers in that way for myself," said Lee boldly.
Mrs.Hale rose.

"I think I hear Kate coming," she said.