"I don't know."
"Because," Helen continued, "if you have any such idea in your mind,
I think it is most unfair to Mr. Lessingham. You know perfectly
well that anything else between you and him would be impossible."
"And why?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Helen exclaimed vigorously. "Mr. Lessingham
may have all the most delightful qualities in the world, but he has
attached himself to a country which no English man or woman will be
able to think of without shuddering, for many years to come. You
can't dream of cutting yourself adrift from your friends and your
home and your country! It's too unnatural! I'm not even arguing
with you, Philippa. You couldn't do it! I'm wholly concerned with
Mr. Lessingham. I cannot forget what we owe him. I think it
would be hatefully cruel of you to spoil his life."
Philippa's flashes of seriousness were only momentary. She made a
little grimace. She was once more her natural, irresponsible self.
"You underrate my charm, Helen," she declared. "I really believe
that I could make his life instead of spoiling it."
"And you would pay the price?"
Philippa, slim and elflike in the firelight, rose from her chair.
There was a momentary cruelty in her face.
"I sometimes think," she said calmly, "that I would pay any price
in the world to make Henry understand how I feel.
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