’IsaidIwouldacknowledgenosuchthing，andIwon’t。Athingcan’tbelegalwhenit’sagainstthewishesofthepersonsthelawsaremadetoprotect。SoIbegyounottocallmethatanymore。’
’Verywell，MissTucker，’saidJimdeferentially。’Wecanliveonexactlyasbefore。Wecan’tmarryanybodyelse，that’strue；butbeyondthatthere’snodifference，andnoharmdone。Yourfatheroughttobetold，Isuppose，evenifnobodyelseis？Itwillpartlyreconcilehimtoyou，andmakeyourlifesmoother。’
Insteadofdirectlyreplying，Margeryexclaimedinalowvoice：
’O，itisamistake——Ididn’tseeitall，owingtonothavingtimetoreflect!Iagreed，thinkingthatatleastIshouldgetreconciledtofatherbythestep。Butperhapshewouldassoonhavemenotmarriedatallasmarriedandparted。Imustha’beenenchanted——bewitched——
whenIgavemyconsenttothis!Ionlydidittopleasethatdeargooddyingnobleman——thoughwhyheshouldhavewisheditsomuchI