"Dear doctor," I said, with a sense of satisfaction at the conviction that I was successfully probing him, "if I thought that my touch would blast the flower you speak of, I would fly the spot, and carry my unhappiness with me, so that only I should be the sufferer. But no need exists. Nothing lies at my door of which I am ashamed. No man, so far as I am aware, is my enemy, and I am no man's. I have never committed an act to another's hurt. You speak of my inner life. Does not every human being live two lives, and is there not in every life something which man should keep to himself. Were we to walk unmasked, we should hate and loathe each other, and saints would be stoned to death. We are maculate, and it is given to no man to probe the mystery of existence. There are pretenders, and you and I agree upon an estimate of them. If in private intercourse we were absolutely frank in our confession of temptations, gross thoughts, and uncommitted sins, it would inspire horror. The joys of life are destroyed by seeking too far. We are here, with all our imperfections. The wisest and truest philosophy is to make the best of them and of surrounding circumstances. Therefore when I see before me a path which leads to human happiness, I should be mad to turn from it. Will you not now ask questions to which I can return explicit answers?" "You love?" "Yes." "Whom?" "Lauretta." "In honour?" "In perfect honour. So pure a being could inspire none but a pure passion." "You would make a sacrifice to render her happy?" "I can make her happy without a sacrifice." "But should the need arise?" "If I were convinced of it, I would sacrifice my life for her. It would be valueless to me without her; it would be valueless with her did not her heart respond to the beating of mine." "You have not spoken to her?" "Of love? No." "You will not, without my consent?" "I cannot promise." "You believe yourself worthy of her?" "No man can be worthy of her, but I as much as any man." "She is young for love." "Those words should be addressed to nature not to me." "Aspiring to win her, you would win her worthily?" "It shall be my endeavour." "I do not say she is easily swayed, but she is simple and confiding. She must have time to question her heart." "What is it you demand of me?" "That you should not woo her hastily. I am her father and her natural guardian. It would not be difficult for me to keep you and her apart." "Do you contemplate an act so cruel?" "Not at the present moment seriously, but it has suggested itself to me as the best safeguard I could adopt to save an inexperienced child from possible unhappiness." "She would suffer."