"Well?"
"Because he is an idler."
"What would she say of me, then?" groaned Scoutbush.
"Very true; for, you must understand, this Mr. Stangrave is not what you or I should call an idle man. He has travelled over half the world and made the best use of his eyes. He has filled his house in New York, they say, with gems of art gathered from every country in Europe. He is a finished scholar; talks half-a-dozen different languages, sings, draws, writes poetry, reads hard every day, at every subject, from gardening to German metaphysics—altogether, one of the most highly cultivated men I know, and quite an Admirable Crichton in his way."
"Then why does she call him an idler?"
"Because, she says, he has no great purpose in life. She will marry no one who will not devote himself, and all he has, to some great, chivalrous, heroic enterprise; whose one object is to be of use, even if he has to sacrifice his life to it. She says that there must be such men still left in the world; and that if she finds one, him she will marry, and no one else."
"Why, there are none such to be found now-a-days, I thought?"
"You heard what she herself said on that very point."
There was a silence for a minute or two. Scout-bush had heard, and was pondering it in his heart. At last,—
"I am not cut out for a hero; so I suppose I must give her up. But I wish sometimes I could be of use, Mrs. Mellot: but what can a fellow do?"