“Marry!” repeated his companion. “What an idea!”

“Yes, man alive, and a good one; people do it every day. You stare as if you had never heard of the institution. Look at me”—and he tapped his waistcoat: “I am married.”

“Yes, but I—I am not a ladies’ man.”

“So much the better; they never marry.”

“And I’m too old,” objected Colonel Doran.

“Bosh!”

“No girl would have me.”

“Well, what do you say to a fine young woman of five-and-thirty—or—a widow?”

“I’m not a society man, or in the way of meeting ladies.”