"Don't be frightened," she said. "I'm not a candidate. I've had too much of it already. But seriously—you're different. I don't mean to be insulting, but you were made to be a family man. Our little holiday has been pleasant without end, but it's not what you were meant for. After all you're not too old to reform. You've been on the rocks. But there's a good deal left of the wreckage. I got into trouble because I didn't have the nerve to hold tight enough to my dream. Watch out that you don't make the opposite mistake. Let me diagnose your case."
She moved around in front of him, and from time to time shook her slender finger at him solemnly.
"You've ability. Serious ability—the kind this old world of ours needs. And you've this 'social conscience' with which the younger generation is cursed. You won't be content to waste yourself. What are you going to do? Somehow you've got to find a place where you'll seem to yourself useful. If not, you'd better commit suicide at once. If you're going to run to waste, at least spare yourself the shameful years. But no. You're not defeated enough for the arsenic bottle.
"You've two kinds of ability. You pretend to despise this archæology—but nobody else does. The other ability is your grasp of social philosophy. For either career—and, wise as I am, I'm not sure which will be better for you—you need a quiet, orderly life, not a disturbing, disorderly romp like these last months. You need to be well kept, you need a wife."
Walter smoked away quietly, but his face had turned haggard.
"I don't want to hurt you," she went on relentlessly, "but Mabel Train isn't the only woman in the world."
"She's the only one I ever especially noticed, till you came along."
"Leave me out of this discussion. There's just the trouble. If you insist on keeping your eyes closed to the other women, you'd best run along and blow your fool head off at once. If you want a real life, open your eyes."
"Well," he said with a wry smile, "I suppose you've got some victim to recommend. Whom shall I notice?"
It was several minutes before she took up his challenge.