'Most assuredly.' Osborne had not answered the most important question of all, but he could wait. 'Suppose you loved a woman with all your heart and soul--suppose it was your first love-' 'All that is very easy, for it is my case.' 'Suppose you had been accepted, that you believed you were loved in return, that there was no material impediment to your marriage, that you put on the engaged ring with all the solemnity of a private religious service, and that, in putting it on, you extracted a vow from the girl, would you ask that girl to break that vow the next day?' 'My dear fellow, vows spoken in that way do not bind.' 'I think you an honourable man. If you, at the time of engagement, exacted a vow from the girl, would you, as an honourable man, ask your sweetheart to break her vow?' 'It is you who now place me in a horrible position.' 'You can answer. As an honourable man, would you ask your sweetheart to break her vow?' 'As an honourable man I would not. But how does this lose you Miss Gordon?' 'Because if she keep her vows she must not have me.' 'But why, in the name of Heaven?' 'Because I made her vow never to marry any man who did not belong to the church she had been brought up in. She made the vow. And now--' He paused. 'Well, Osborne, and now--' 'I belong to no church. I have lost my faith. I can never, as an honourable man, ask her to marry me.' 'But, my dear fellow,' said Nevill, in a tone of encouragement, 'you never yet knew a woman who refused to marry the man she cared for because of his religious beliefs or disbeliefs.' 'That has nothing whatever to do with the question. The question is, should a man ask the woman he loves to break a solemn vow for his sake? A quick flush of pleasure shot over Nevill's face. By putting Kate in such a position towards him, Osborne indicated, unintentionally no doubt, that he had no objection to him, Nevill, as a brother-in-law. 'Suppose Kate were engaged to you, and at the time of your engagement you asked her to make a solemn pledge never to marry any man who did not conform, would you ask her to break that vow and marry you, though you did not conform?' 'I cannot bring the question home to myself in that way. My case is the direct opposite. How can you be so silly as to lose your faith now that you have won all you want in the world?' 'There is no good in our going into an argument, Nevill. We must take things as they are. I will not press you for an answer. I know what it would be.' 'Although,' said Nevill slowly, deliberately, 'I cannot bring the situation home to me so as to make it mine, I am sure I can give you good advice in the case. You must first of all be prudent, and say nothing for awhile. What has suddenly left you may suddenly come back.' Osborne shook his head drearily.