ly tells us what we anticipated. Of course he made false
declarations. If Mr. Mallard were really as grim as he sometimes looks,
the result to both of them might be unpleasant."

"But the marriage could not be undone?" Miriam asked quickly.

"Oh no. Scarcely desirable that it should be."

Miriam took the letter, and in a few minutes went back again to her
room.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the Spences, who sat alone, received
the foreseen visit from Mallard. They welcomed him silently. As he sat
down, he had a smile on his face; he drew a letter deliberately from
his pocket, and, without preface, began to read it aloud, still in a
deliberate manner.

"Let me first of all make a formal announcement. We have this morning
been married by registrar's licence. We intend to live for a few weeks
at this present address, where we have taken some furnished rooms until
better arrangements can be made. I lose no time in writing to you, for
of course there is business between us that you will desire to transact
as soon as may be.

"In obtaining the licence, I naturally gave false information regarding
Cecily's age; this was an inevitable consequence of the step we had
taken. You know my opinions on laws and customs: for the multitude they
are necessary, and an infraction of them by the average man is,
logically enough, called a sin against society; for Cecily and myself,
in relation to such a matter as our becoming man and wife, the law is
idle form. Personally, I could have wished to dispense with the
absurdity altogether, but, as things are, this involves an injustice to
a woman. I told my falsehoods placidly, for they were meaningless in my
eyes. I have the satisfaction of knowing that you cannot, without
inconsistency, find fault with me.

"And now I speak as one who would gladly be on terms of kindness with
you. You know me, Mallard; you must be aware how impossible it was for
me to wait two years. As for Cecily, her one word, again and again
repeated on the journey, was, 'How unkind I shall seem to them!' and I
know that it was the seeming disrespect to you which most of all
distressed her. For her sake, I make it my petition that you will let
the past be past. She cannot yet write to you, but is sad in the
thought of having incurred your displeasure. Whatever you say to me,
let it be said privately; do not hurt Cecily. I mentioned 'business;
the word and the thing are equally hateful to me. I most sincerely wish