I didn't guess.

Of course I understand." "If you didn't, it would be impossible for us." "Have no doubt," said I, softly, and I kissed her hand.
I came into her life when she counted it as over and done with--at eight and twenty--and was patiently undergoing premature interment in a small pension in Rome.

How long her patience would have lasted I cannot say.
If circumstances had been different, what would have happened?
is the most futile of speculations.

What did happen was the drifting together of us two bits of flotsam and our keeping together for the simple reason that there were no forces urging us apart.

She was past all care for social sanctions, her sacred cap of good repute having been flung over the windmills long before; and I, friendless unit in a world of shadows, why should I have rejected the one warm hand that was held out to me?
As I said to her this afternoon, Why should the _bon Dieu_ disapprove?
I pay him the compliment of presuming that he is a broad-minded deity.
When my fortune came, she remarked, "I am glad I am not free.