“If that were all, it is pretty clear you had no right to succeed. When I said that people can have what they set their heart on, I meant what they so longed for that no toil was too great, no sacrifice too painful to deter them; that with eyes upturned to the summit they could breast the mountain, not minding weariness, and even when, footsore and exhausted, they sank down, they arose to the same enterprise, unshaken in courage, unbroken in faith. Have you known this?”
“I can scarcely say I have; but as to the longing and pining after a good turn of fortune, I'll back myself against any one going.”
“That's the old story of the child crying for the moon,” said she, laughing. “Now, what was it you longed for so ardently?”
“Can't you guess?”
“You wanted to marry some one who would not have you, or who was beneath you, or too poor, or too some-thing-or-other for your grand relations?”
“No, not that.”
“You aspired to some great distinction as a politician, or a soldier, or perhaps a sailor?”
“No, by Jove! never dreamed of it,” burst he in, laughing at the very idea.
“You sighed for some advancement in rank, or perhaps it was great wealth?”
“There you have it! Plenty of money—lots of ready—with that all the rest comes easy.”