Once the child was out of the jurisdiction, of
course no court could force her from him.
Of the two courses, even in so far as he himself was concerned, what
between the urgency of the matter and the unceasing pressure of his
passion, Geoffrey inclined to the latter. The relations between himself
and Honoria had for years been so strained, so totally different
from those which should exist between man and wife, that they greatly
mitigated in his mind the apparent iniquity of such a step. Nor would he
feel much compunction at removing the child from her mother, for
there was no love lost between the two, and as time went on he guessed
shrewdly there would be less and less. For the rest, he had some
seventeen thousand pounds in hand; he would take half and leave Honoria
half. He knew that he could always earn a living wherever he went, and
probably much more than a living, and of whatever he earned a strict
moiety should be paid to Honoria. But first and above everything, there
was Beatrice to be considered. She must be saved, even if he ruined
himself to save her.
Lady Honoria, it is scarcely necessary to say, had little idea that she
was driving her husband to such dangerous and determined councils.
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