"You were lucky." He answered absently.

There was something which had got to be said now.
He could not let this girl to whom he owed--well, the only holiday that he had ever taken, go home shamed by a mistake, which after all she had not made.

He was very near indeed to saying yet more.

The inclination was strong in him, but not so strong as the methods of his life.

Marriage now--that meant to his view the closing of all the avenues of advancement, and a life for both below both their needs.
"Stella, just listen to me.