human
My child. . . .
gpt
Yes?
human
You believe that I wouldn't pain or distress or shock you if I could avoid it?
gpt
Indeed I do.
human
Yet I am going to pain and distress and shock you now. I . . . I cannot marry you to Martin Conrad. I daren't. The Church thinks that you are married already--that you are still the wife of your husband.
gpt
But how can the Church think that, dear Father? My husband has no rights over me now, and no duties or responsibilities with respect to me. He can marry again if he likes. And he will, I am sure he will, and nobody can prevent him. How, then, can the Church say that I am still his wife?
human
Because marriage, according to the law of the Church, can only be dissolved by death, said Father Dan.
gpt
Haven't I told you that before, my daughter? Didn't we go over it again and again when you were here the last time?
human
Yes, yes, but I thought if somebody else sought the divorce--somebody who had never believed in the indissolubility of marriage and wasn't bound by the law of the Church . . . we've heard of cases of that kind, haven't we?
gpt
My poor child, no. The Church thinks marriage is a sacred covenant which no difference of belief, no sin on either side, can ever break.
human
But, Father, I cried,
gpt
Only the civil law, my daughter. Remember the words of our blessed and holy Redeemer: '_Every one that putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery; and he that marrieth one that is put away committeth adultery.'_ . . . My poor child, my heart bleeds for you, but isn't that the Divine Commandment?
human
Then you think, I said (the room was becoming dark and I could feel my lip trembling),
gpt
I am sorry, my child, very, very sorry.
human
Father Dan, I said sharply, for by this time my heart was beginning to blaze,
gpt
Christ's words must be the final law for all true Christians, my daughter. And besides. . . .
human
Well?
gpt
Besides that. . . .
human
Yes?
gpt
It blisters my tongue to say it, my child, knowing your sufferings and great temptations, but. . . .
human
But what, dear Father?
gpt
You are in the position of the guilty party, and therefore no good clergyman of any Christian Church in the world, following the Commandment of his Master, would dare to marry you.