The Abduction of Psyche

The Abduction of Psyche
The British Are Coming
The Broken Pitcher
The Jewel Casket
¡¡¡¡ "I can't say more without speaking against her, and I don't want to do that," said he. "Yet I must tell you one thing, which would settle the matter in any case. She has married another man-- really married him! I knew nothing about it till after the visit we made here." ¡¡¡¡ "Married another? ... It is a crime--as the world treats it, but does not believe." ¡¡¡¡ "There--now you are yourself again. Yes, it is a crime--as you don't hold, but would fearfully concede. But I shall never inform against her! And it is evidently a prick of conscience in her that has led her to urge me to get a divorce, that she may remarry this man legally. So you perceive I shall not be likely to see her again." ¡¡¡¡ "And you didn't really know anything of this when you saw her?" said Sue more gently, as she rose. ¡¡¡¡ "I did not. Considering all things, I don't think you ought to be angry, darling!" ¡¡¡¡ "I am not. But I shan't go to the Temperance Hotel!" ¡¡¡¡ He laughed. "Never mind!" he said. "So that I am near you, I am comparatively happy. It is more than this earthly wretch called Me deserves--you spirit, you disembodied creature, you dear, sweet, tantalizing phantom--hardly flesh at all; so that when I put my arms round you I almost expect them to pass through you as through air! Forgive me for being gross, as you call it! Remember that our calling cousins when really strangers was a snare. The enmity of our parents gave a piquancy to you in my eyes that was intenser even than the novelty of ordinary new acquaintance."