human
You see, he didn't want to marry an American, in the first place.
gpt
Well, no one forced him into that. That's one thing he did with his eyes open, at any rate.
human
His doing it was a sort of--concession.
gpt
Concession to what, for pity's sake?
human
Concession to his own heart, I suppose. Olivia smiled, faintly.
gpt
You see, all other things being equal, he would have preferred to marry one of his own countrywomen.
human
It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. If he'd married one of his own countrywomen, the other things wouldn't have been equal. So there you are.
gpt
But the other things aren't equal now. Don't you see? They're changed.
human
Oh yes, I am. I'm changed--in value. With papa's troubles there's a depreciation in everything we are.
gpt
If she feels like that now, she commented,
human
But she hasn't changed,
gpt
It doesn't make any difference in _her_.
human
Yes, it does, mother dear. You don't know anything about it.
gpt
I know enough about it, Mrs. Temple declared, with some asperity,
human
Y-y-es, Drusilla admitted, her head inclined to one side.
gpt
That might be quite true in one way; but it wouldn't help Rupert Ashley to keep his place in the Sussex Rangers.
human
Do you mean to say they'd make him give it up?
gpt
They wouldn't make him, mother dear. He'd only have to.
human
Well, I never did! If that's the British army--
gpt
The British army is a very complicated institution. It fills a lot of different functions, and it's a lot of different things. It's one thing from the point of view of the regiment, and another from that of the War Office. It's one thing on the official side, and another on the military, and another on the social. You can't decide anything about it in an abstract, offhand way. Rupert Ashley might be a capital officer, and every one might say he'd done the honorable thing in standing by Olivia; and yet he'd find it impossible to go on as colonel of the Rangers when his father-in-law was in penal servitude. There it is in a nutshell. You can't argue about it, because that's the way it is.