"Well," said Sprague, "there is nothing so wonderful in that. I am no longer a boy, and I have never married."
"You make one curious," said Ricordo.
"How?"
"One would like to know why you, Mr. Sprague, who are evidently a domestic kind of man, have never married."
"I will tell you on one condition."
"And that?"
"That you will tell me why you never married."
"I accept."
"Then I have never married because the only woman I ever wanted refused to have me."
"And I have refrained from getting married because I am afraid."