The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-01-29

What them" he urged. did you moi
also tell me once that love could be dem
onstrated only by sacriice?'
Am I pretending TO love your she
retorted, holly.
Il had forgotten that momentarily,'
murmured Amory dejectedly But the
objections? Surely / have a right tc
those"
VERY we'll, II you insist. But II you
do not like what I say, remember did
not say 1t willingly" she warned. 'Ir
the first place, / admire men who have
force. who can be powers in the world
do not mean that you are weak, but
that you are Indifferent. You are only a
power In the world of diners out"
Il admire the beautiful self-possession,
with which you say horribly cruel
things"
81 knew you would take IT badly. But
1 do not mean to be cruel; am only
trying TO be true"
Il WISH" he said fervently. how
wish you would be untrue to that cold
soul of yours for five minutes. / wonder
If you have any idea how dear you can
be when you are not trying 10 be consci-
entious?'
"As 1 was saying. you care too much
for social success" resumed Miss Win
chester, striving TO speak with the calm
|
signally.
"Ah, yes, what else?'
"You care too much for the things OF
the world-the Injuries and the pleasures
of II. You care about being comfortable,
she said disdainfully.
What else?"
She hesitated. what right have I to
say that yours is not spiritual life?
And yeti is not"
| ehn mo
saying that it would not occur to me
that l needed the consultations OF reli-
| gion so long as the cooking was excel
lent at my club?'
| How furious you are. How I must
have irritated you to make you say that"
"1rritated is not precisely the word
| should USE" he returned; when II comes
to making a race with the ideals Of
young and imaginative woman. l am
| probably out of it, but that does not
| make - the pleasanter TO be told So You
have been very explicit; you leave little
10 my Imagination. l think / understand
| you now. OF course when / hoped TO
| meet YOUR requirements. | was under
| the impression that they were reasonable
| ones. You always seemed to me supremely
| reasonable, in spite of your enthusiasms."
| She lifted an appealing hand but he
| hurried on. II suppose I failed to APP
preciate the fact that your ideal does
| not look like me? girls ideal is
not likely TO be trihe stout and per-
| ceptibly past thirty, and / suppose he
never has the beginning of a bald spot
on his head?"
She disdained an answer.
And at dinner he probably cares more
about whom he takes out than what is
set before him. I admit that 1t is no
| longer the case with me-unless I am TAX
ing you out" he continued. "Of course
these things are serious offenses against
the higher life. especially the stoutness,
| and they amply demonstrate that / am
of the earth--earthy. I am glad 1t is
proved to your satisfaction, for otherwise
| there have been moments when l have
| been so fatuous as to think that you
might after all find 1t hard to throw me
| over completely"
1T is hardly fair to talk like that"
she said with suppressed agitation. Il
| try hard ia recognize the facts OF life /
| am reasonable being. / have not been
| dreaming about the hero of a melo-drama.
| But surely somewhere. though l have
| never known him yet, there is a man who
is both strong and fine; man who can
use the adornments OF life without fall
| ing their slave, or can dispense with
| them and respect himself no less man
| who is not ashamed to have ideals and
| 70 strive toward them. Is humanity so
poor then that may not hope TO find
| him? And do you suppose I like to tell
| you that you are not he? You, who come
| so near in most things?
| Outside the swift November twilight had
| begun to fall The light was growing
| faint in the library Amory turned the
| carved paper-cutter over and over In
| his strong, soft hands, bending It this
way and that.
L.
man, what would she say, I wonders"
| he thought "On my soul, think that I
am not far from being 1t. If my life is
not blameless in my own eyes, yet IL
would hardly be blameworthy, even in
hers. Is it nothing to have kept ones
hands clean and ones soul unstained?
Does she think a man does that without
ideals? Does she really think am under
any serious misrepresentation as TO the
uses Of life? Does she--O Lord. how
hopeless 1t would be to try to make her
understand"
He interrupted his own thoughts alb
ruptly. The paper knife snapped in his
hands, and he dropped the fragments
with a swift gesture of his opened hands.
and he drew one long breath. Then he
rose saying with n new gravity that she
had never heard In his tones before
so be It, You must forgive me II
lose cheerfully all l am losing-for / did
not ask you TO marry me to make me
comfortable since you insist on my
fondness for comfort, but because II was
my one chance for happiness. Such
happiness and such stimulus as you are
still young enough to get from many
things, find only in your
presence. / have only one thing more 10
saw. Please remember It, l am, unfor-
tunately for my comfort, too old TO
change. ] shall not love again. Absurd
as 1t may seem. and / know you think
me quite absurd, shall not even cease
TO love you as / love you now. But as
for YOU, l know your world better than
Won know IT, You are twenty-five. That
is rather young. / am not young, but
| can afford to give you ten years out
of my life to look for that ideal OF yours.
And I shall think the time well wasted.
~ at the end of II you can tell me that
no one has come nearer to II than i. You
know you have never told me that you
could not love me, but only that l did
not come up to that mark. And SO do
not give you up"
Her eyes had been fixed on the moor.
Now she lifted her head, but 1t had grown
suddenly so dark that he could only see
the motion, not the look she sent toward
him. ..,-,-
as that what you truly think, you
,r,Iv feelg'' she asked at last, with
note IN her voice which he had never
remembered to have heard there before.
II stirred his pulses, and he wondered
DULY what 1t meant.
Ne assented silently. The exhilaration
Nth which he had entered the house,
ao,raga with which he had begun