"And you are not willing to let these romantic fancies wait until you've made your fortune?"
The girl spoke with cold deliberation.
"How can I wait to live? I'm twenty-six. I'll never have those glorious days of my young manhood again. My ears will never be so keen again or eyes so clear again. What is the use of years of preparation to live, if at last you don't know how?"
"And you are willing that the woman you love shall live in poverty while her more fortunate sisters laugh and dance in luxury?"
"The one joy of my life will be to gratify every reasonable wish of your body and soul."
"Yet the first reasonable wish I express, you refuse to consider."
"It would be suicide——"
"Oh, Jim, don't talk like a fool! Mr. Bivens says he would make you a millionaire in five years."
The blood suddenly rushed to Stuart's face, and the square jaws came together with a snap.
"That's very kind of Mr. Bivens, I'm sure. When I need his patronage, I'll take my place in line with other henchmen and ask for it. At present I'm paddling my own canoe."