“An’ that’s why you’ve remained an old bachelor, was it?”
“That’s the one and only reason.”
“I am sorry for you,” said Padna.
“You needn’t be sorry,” said Micus. “If a bachelor has sorrows, he has joys as well, and ’tis better to keep what you have than to lose what you haven’t.”
“How could you lose what you haven’t?”
“Well, you might get it if you tried hard enough, and then only find discontent and disillusionment.”
“I’d like to go to the Land of Peace and Plenty. It must be a wonderful place.”
“A wonderful place it is, then, surely, and nearly as wonderful as the sun itself.”
“When the earth goes too near the sun it is too hot, and when it goes too far away from the sun it is too cold, but in the Land of Peace and Plenty, I suppose it must be always beautiful.”
“Indeed and it is.”