“God forbid!” said the old boy, hastily. “I've seen too many good women for that. I only mean that you don't quite get the style of virtue you expect when you are—twenty-five, for instance. What you get in the best of 'em is a good wearing article, but not—er—the fancy piece of goods you imagine.”
“In a word,” I said, as I rose to leave him, “you ask for a pearl and you get a cheap but serviceable pebble.”
“Well, well,” he replied, good-humouredly, “we'll see what you say six weeks later.”
“I have learned my lesson,” I answered. “You will see that I shall remember it!”
The reader will also see, if his patience with the experimental philosopher and confident prophet is not yet quite exhausted.
