And yet her way of going about it had been far from a success. How curious that she did not remember that!
"Yes," he said, "I am quite aware that I did not go about it in the right way, but then that was the only way in which it presented itself to me; and when I had made up my mind at last that it was a failure, I confess it was with a certain sense of relief. I suppose I was born to live and die an old bachelor."
"Do not be so sure of that," said Elinor. "Some day or other, in the most unlooked-for moment, the fairy princess will bound upon the scene, and the old bachelor will be lost."
"We'll wait quite contentedly for that day—which I don't believe in," he said.
Mrs. Dennistoun did not take any part in the later portion of this discussion; her smile was feeble at the places where Elinor laughed. She said seriously after this fireside conference, when he got up to prepare for dinner, putting her hand tenderly on his shoulder, "I wish you had found some one you could have loved, John."
"So did I—for a time," he said, lightly. "But you see, it was not to be."
She shook her head, standing against the firelight in the dark room, so that he could not see her face. "I wish," she said, "I wish—that I saw you with a nice wife, John."
"You might wish—to see me on the woolsack, aunt."
"Well—and it might come to pass. I shall see you high up—if I live long enough; but I wish I was as sure of the other, John."
"Well," he said with a laugh, "I did my best; but there is no use in struggling against fate."