-just what her story shows
her to be?"

"Yes. I've seen too many frauds to be taken in. She isn't a fraud.
Neither does she belong to that miserable, wishy-washy, downhill class
that sooner or later fetches up in a poorhouse. They say we're all
made of dust, but some seem made of mud. You could see she was out of
the common; and she's here on account of the wrong she received and not
the wrong she did. I say all this in fairness to her; but when it
comes to marrying her, that's another question."

"Tom, as I've told you, I don't want to marry. In fact, I couldn't go
before a minister and promise what I'd have to. But I could do
something like this. I could give this woman an honest name and a home.
It would be marriage before the law. No one could ever say a word
against either of us. I would be true and kind to her and she should
share in my fortunes. That's all. You have often advised me to marry,
and you know if I did it couldn't be anything else but a business
affair. Then it ought to be done in a businesslike way. You say I
can't get along alone, and like enough you're right. I've learned more
from this woman's manner than I have in a year why I can't get and keep
the right kind of help, and I now feel if I could find a good, honest
woman who would make my interest hers, and help me make a living in my
own home, I'd give her my name and all the security which an honest
name conveys. Now, this poor woman is in sore need and she might be
grateful for what I can do, while any other woman would naturally
expect me to promise more than I honestly can. Anyhow, I'd have to go
through the form, and I can't and won't go and say sacred words--just
about what I said when I married my wife--and know all the time I was
lying."

"Well, Holcroft, you're a queer dick and this is a queer plan of yours.
You're beyond my depth now and I can't advise."

"Why is it a queer plan? Things only seem odd because they are not
common. As a matter of fact, you advise a business marriage. When I
try to follow your advice honestly and not dishonestly, you say I'm
queer."

"I suppose if everybody became honest, it would be the queerest world
every known," said Tom laughing. "Well, you might do worse than marry
this woman. I can tell you that marrying is risky business at best.
You know a justice will tie you just as tight as a minister, and while
I've given you my impression about this woman, I KNOW little about her
and you