Kroll. Then you really must give me some explanation of your
taking this matter--this possibility--so much to heart.
Rebecca (controlling herself). It is quite obvious, I should
think, Mr. Kroll. I have no desire for people here to think me an
illegitimate child.
Kroll. Quite so. Well, well, let us be content with your
explanation, for the present. But you see that is another point
on which you have cherished a certain prejudice.
Rebecca. Yes, that is quite true.
Kroll. And it seems to me that very much the same applies to most
of this "emancipation" of yours, as you call it. Your reading
has introduced you to a hotch-potch of new ideas and opinions;
you have made a certain acquaintance with researches that are
going on in various directions--researches that seem to you to
upset a good many ideas that people have hitherto considered
incontrovertible and unassailable. But all this has never gone
any further than knowledge in your case, Miss West--a mere matter
of the intellect. It has not got into your blood.
Rebecca (thoughtfully). Perhaps you are right.
Kroll. Yes, only test yourself, and you will see! And if it is
true in your case, it is easy to recognise how true it must be in
John Rosmer's. Of course it is madness, pure and simple. He will
be running headlong to his ruin if he persists in coming openly
forward and proclaiming himself an apostate! Just think of it--he,
with his shy disposition! Think of HIM disowned--hounded out of
the circle to which he has always belonged--exposed to the
uncompromising attacks of all the best people in the place.
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