Should She Have Left Him? — page 123: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE BISHOP TO THE RESCUE. 117 doctor, using one of those phrases that always jarred on Mrs. Courtenay, notwithstanding the respect she entertained for him. ‘‘ The sanity, not the morality, of Dorothy is under question.” Mrs. Courtenay would like to have retorted that one could not exist in Dorothy without the other, but refrained, because the doctor always insisted on combating what he called error on the spot. “ But on that head,” said he, looking at his watch to see if he had time to devote to the discussion, “Tam forced to admit that Dorothy presents argu- ments you cannot answer satisfactorily to yourself. Of course, you can fall back on the truism that one should always do right for right’s sake, irrespective of all other considerations. But, you see, Dorothy insists that she is doing right, She says that organized society in establishing the principle of monogamous marriages has builded so badly that, through its defects, the condition in which she and Trescotte find themselves is made possible, and she wants to know if, because of those defects, they are to be disgraced and punished? Upon my word, the answer is difficult. You see organized society says: Monogamous marriages are right; if you will accept the principle, we will guarantee to you protection in the enjoyment of your wife or husband, as the case may be; the control of your children; the possession of your property ; and its succession as you desire it. It is a contract. Well, these two young people of ours enter into this contract with organized society and what do they find? Society Comicloeoe KS C@ °S