MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
Mr. Ashton...

EDWIN ASHTON
I suppose you're going to tell me you feel ashamed of yourself.

MICHAEL
I don't think what I feel about me is important, do you? What I feel about Margaret seems more to the point.

EDWIN
If you'd cared anything at all about Margaret, she wouldn't be in this situation.

MICHAEL
I didn't know until tonight.

EDWIN
You didn't know she was married?

MICHAEL
I knew she was married, yeah. I thought her husband was dead. I mean, officially dead.

EDWIN
She told you that?

MICHAEL
Well, she implied it.

EDWIN
You're saying she deceived you on purpose?

MICHAEL
No, no. Of course I'm not. I should have thought you'd know Margaret better than that, Mr. Ashton.

EDWIN
I know Margaret very well. I know hardly anything about you. I suppose you realise her husband, John, could still be alive.

MICHAEL
Is that what you believe?

EDWIN
What I believe is beside the point, Mr. Armstrong. It's what the law believes that counts in a situation like this.

MICHAEL
I want to marry her!

EDWIN
Well, the fact is that you can't...unless you're ready to wait for seven years.

MICHAEL
I'll wait, Mr. Ashton.

EDWIN
You say that now. A lot can happen in seven years. What's going to happen to her in the meantime? People talk, and even if you don't listen, it poisons things. Who's going to sustain her through all that...?

MICHAEL
I am.

EDWIN
...with two children to support?

MICHAEL
I am.

EDWIN
Brave words, Mr. Armstrong.

MICHAEL
Well, there's only one thing that seems possible. I'm going to ask Margaret to live with me.

 

(from "I Can Be Happy, Can't I?" by John Finch)