Well, so what did he say to you?” she repeated.

“He said that he was unhappy on your account and his own. Perhaps you will say that it’s egoism, but what a legitimate and noble egoism. He wants first of all to legitimize his daughter, and to be your husband, to have a legal right to you.”

“What wife, what slave can be so utterly a slave as I, in my position?” she put in gloomily.

“The chief thing he desires...he desires that you should not suffer.”

“That’s impossible. Well?”

“Well, and the most legitimate desire—�he wishes that your children should have a name.”

“What children?”