“What should you say if I were to tell you that you and I were in the same boat, old man?”
“You?” The other stared at him in amazement. “You don’t mean to say that there is any girl in England who would refuse you?”
“Suppose there were a girl whom I hadn’t the courage to ask, not because I was afraid of her refusing me, but because I was afraid of her accepting me?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Suppose I had to choose between her and my ambition? Suppose I knew that if I were to ask her to be my wife I might have to abandon my whole career, because society would forbid the banns?”
“I never thought of that,” murmured his friend.
“This very morning,” Hammond went on, “I had a letter from a man who thinks he is acting in my interests to warn me against the woman I love.”
“That is rather rough on you, old man.”
Hammond smiled bitterly.
“You see, even a damned millionaire can’t have everything he wants.”