TANNER. [impatiently] Oh, tell him, tell him. We shall never be able to keep the secret unless everybody knows what it is. Mr Malone: if you go to Nice with Violet, you go with another man's wife. She is married. HECTOR. [thunderstruck] You don't tell me so! TANNER. We do. In confidence. RAMSDEN. [with an air of importance, lest Malone should suspect a misalliance] Her marriage has not yet been made known: she desires that it shall not be mentioned for the present. HECTOR. I shall respect the lady's wishes. Would it be indiscreet to ask who her husband is, in case I should have an opportunity of consulting him about this trip? TANNER. We don't know who he is. HECTOR. [retiring into his shell in a very marked manner] In that case, I have no more to say. They become more embarrassed than ever. OCTAVIUS. You must think this very strange. HECTOR. A little singular. Pardon me for saving so. RAMSDEN. [half apologetic, half huffy] The young lady was married secretly; and her husband has forbidden her, it seems, to declare his name. It is only right to tell you, since you are interested in Miss--er--in Violet. OCTAVIUS. [sympathetically] I hope this is not a disappointment to you. HECTOR. [softened, coming out of his shell again] Well it is a blow. I can hardly understand how a man can leave a wife in such a position. Surely it's not customary. It's not manly. It's not considerate. OCTAVIUS. We feel that, as you may imagine, pretty deeply. RAMSDEN. [testily] It is some young fool who has not enough experience to know what mystifications of this kind lead to. HECTOR. [with strong symptoms of moral repugnance] I hope so. A man need be very young and pretty foolish too to be excused for such conduct. You take a very lenient view, Mr Ramsden. Too lenient to my mind. Surely marriage should ennoble a man. TANNER. [sardonically] Ha! HECTOR. Am I to gather from that cacchination that you don't agree with me, Mr Tanner? TANNER. [drily] Get married and try. You may find it delightful for a while: you certainly won't find it ennobling. The greatest common measure of a man and a woman is not necessarily greater than the man's single measure. HECTOR. Well, we think in America that a woman's moral number is higher than a man's, and that the purer nature of a woman lifts a man right out of himself, and makes him better than he was. OCTAVIUS. [with conviction] So it does. TANNER. No wonder American women prefer to live in Europe! It's more comfortable than standing all their lives on an altar to be worshipped. Anyhow, Violet's husband has not been ennobled. So what's to be done? HECTOR. [shaking his head] I can't dismiss that man's conduct as lightly as you do, Mr Tanner. However, I'll say no more. Whoever he is, he's Miss Robinson's husband; and I should be glad for her sake to think better of him. OCTAVIUS. [touched; for he divines a secret sorrow] I'm very sorry, Malone. Very sorry.