Read "The Perpetual Curate" by Margaret Oliphant online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"The sum of it all is, that you won't hear any reason, Gerald," said the Squire. "What your brother says, and what I say, are nothing; your poor wife is nothing; and all a man's duties, sir, in life -- all your responsibilities, everything that is considered most sacred -- "
"You may say what you will to me, father," said Gerald. "I can't expect you should speak differently. But you may imagine I have looked at it in every possible light before I came to this resolution. A man does not decide easily when everything he prizes on earth is at stake. I cannot see with Frank's eyes, or with yours; according to the light God has given me, I must see with my own. "