the child too; but let us be sane and be
lovers and not a wretched married couple.

"If you will come and be my housekeeper, I shall welcome you with
rejoicings, and we can go house-hunting again and find something
worthier of us and take bigger views.

"Don't let this bowl you over and make you savage. It is simply a
question of what will keep us the best friends, and wear best. I am
perfectly certain that in the long run we shall be happier so, than
chained together by a lot of cursed laws, that will put our future
relations on a footing that denies freedom of action to us both. Let's
be pioneers and set a good example to people and help to knock on the
head the imbecile marriage laws.

"I am, of course, going to put you all right from a worldly point of
view and settle a good income upon you, which you will enjoy
independently of me; and I also recognise the responsibility of our
child. He or she will be my heir, and nothing will be spared for the
youngster.

"I do hope, my dearest girl, you will see what a sensible idea this is.
It means liberty, and you can't have real love without liberty. If we
married, I am certain that in a year or two we should hate each other
like the devil, and I believe you know that as well as I do. Marriage is
out-grown--it's a barbaric survival and has a most damnable effect on
character. If we are to be close chums and preserve our self-respect, we
must steer clear of it.

"I am very sure I am right. I've thought a lot about it and heard some
very shrewd men in London speak about it. We are up against a sort of
battle nowadays. The idea of marriage is the welfare of the community,
and the idea of freedom is the welfare of the individual; and I, for
one, don't see in the least why the individual should go down for the
community. What has the community done for us, that we should become
slaves for it?

"Wealth--at any rate, ample means--does several things for a man. It
opens his eyes to the meaning of power. Power is a fine thing if it's
coupled with sense. Already I see what a poor creature I was--owing to
the accident of poverty. Now you'll find what a huge difference power
makes. It changes everything and turns a child into a man. At any rate,
I've been a child till now. You've got to be childlike if you're poor.

"So I hope you'll take this in the spirit I write, Sabina, and trust
me, for I'm straight as a line, and my first thought is to make you a
happy woman. That I certa