t her hold herself
to it."

I could have told him that I did not think the error in this case was
altogether or mainly his, or the persistence in it; for it had seemed to
me from the beginning that the love between him and Miss Bentley was
fully as much her affair as his, and that quite within the bounds of
maidenly modesty she showed herself as passionately true to their
plighted troth. But of course this would not do, and I had to be content
with the ironical suggestion that he might try offering to release Miss
Bentley.

"Don't laugh at me," he implored, and I confess his tone would have
taken from me any heart to do so.

"My dear fellow," I said, "I see your point. But don't you think you are
quite needlessly adding to your affliction by pressing it? You two are
in the position which isn't at all uncommon with engaged people, of
having to wait upon exterior circumstances before you get married.
Suppose you were prevented by poverty, as often happens? It would be a
hardship as it is now; but in that case would your engagement be any
less an error than it is now? I don't think it would, and I don't
believe you think so either."

"In that case we should not be opposing our wills to the will of some
one else, who has a better claim to her daughter's allegiance than I
have. It seems to me that our error was in letting her mother consent to
our engagement if she would not or could not consent to our marriage.
When it came to that we ought both to have had the strength to say that
then there should be no engagement. It was my place to do that. I could
have prevented the error which I can't undo."

"I don't see how it could have been easier to prevent than to undo your
error. I don't admit it's an error, but I call it so because you do.
After all, an engagement is nothing but an open confession between two
people that they are in love with each other and wish to marry. There
need be no sort of pledge or promise to make the engagement binding, if
there is love. It's the love that binds."

"Yes."

"It bound you from your first acknowledgment of it, and unless you could
deny your love now, or hereafter, it must always bind you. If you own
that you still love each other, you are still engaged, no matter how
much you release each other. Could you think of loving her and marrying
some one else? Could she love you and marry another? There isn't any
error, unless you've mistaken your feeling for each other. If you have,
I