No one knew better than the captain
that the only responsibilities which a weak man ever accepts are
responsibilities which can be perpetually pointed out to him as resting
exclusively on his own shoulders.
"I am accustomed to set my face against clandestine proceedings of all
kinds," said Captain Wragge. "But there are exceptions to the strictest
rules; and I am bound to admit, Mr. Vanstone, that your position in this
matter is an exceptional position, if ever there was one yet. The course
you have just proposed--however unbecoming I may think it, however
distasteful it may be to myself--would not only spare you a very serious
embarrassment (to say the least of it), but would also protect you from
the personal assertion of those pecuniary claims on the part of your
housekeeper to which you have already adverted. These are both desirable
results to achieve--to say nothing of the removal, on my side, of all
apprehension of annoyance to my niece. On the other hand, however, a
marriage solemnized with such privacy as you propose must be a hasty
marriage; for, as we are situated, the longer the delay the greater will
be the risk that our secret may escape our keeping.
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