“I was in Ireland by then, barely scraping by, and I knew very well I hadn’t been much of a husband to you. I also know I’m not Tommie’s father and the rest of what brought us together. When I had the means to come home, I lacked the confidence. You deserved better, Tilly, and for all I knew, you’d remarried and had other children. When I decided that no, you’d be better off knowing the truth and might not be faring so well on your own, I lacked the means to book passage. I could not make up my mind what the right thing to do was.”

Having had so little experience with that exercise. “What do you want from me, Harry?”

“The house would be a nice gesture in the direction of putting me back on my feet, Tilly. I’ve had a hard time, and I still get the most miserable headaches. You seem to be doing well. You don’t need that house, and I do. ‘For better or for worse’ means you can’t just turn your back on me. I don’t want to make trouble, but I’ve run out of options, and I’m still your husband.”

An ambiguous declaration, part threat, part confession. “I have not missed you,” Matilda said as the door eased open another inch. “But I worried for you, Harry. Every time you vanished—and you vanished frequently—I prayed myself to sleep, hoping you had not come to a bad end.”

“I nearly did, but I’d like to make a fresh start. Settling matters with you is part of that.”

“Bilking me of my only security, you mean?”

“Don’t be like that, Tilly.” He spoke chidingly rather than angrily. “You are pretty, you can run a household without trying, you’re a devoted mother, and men like that in a woman. You have a lot of good years left, while I…” He spread his hands in what was probably supposed to be a gesture of surrender. “I’m ready for a change, and I can’t make that change unless you’ll part with the house.”

“And how can I remarry, Harry, how can I meet any man I esteem at the altar, knowing myself to be your wife? Please recall that my gifts as a swindler are paltry compared to those of present company. Recall that bigamy is a hanging felony, and the children of a bigamous union are bastards. You would steal my only security—Tommie’s only security—and go on your merry way, until the next time you decide to come around looking for any savings I’ve managed to build up.”

“I didn’t much miss you either, Tilly.” This was said mildly, almost affectionately.

“So what threat are you about to aim at me to inspire me to give you an entire house in a decent neighborhood?”

The door opened another inch.