“Indeed! Well, who is the fair creature?”
“I could mention half a dozen. But I choose for you a good sensible woman as a wife.”
“Her name?”
“Clara Deville.”
The young man shook his head.
“What’s your objection?”
“Clara is an excellent girl. I have always liked her as a friend, but to make her my wife is another thing. I don’t think I could love her well enough for that.”
“Nonsense! She is a girl possessing most excellent qualities of head and heart. The very qualities that wear longest. If she give you her affections you have something worth having, to say nothing of the money.”
But Ellison shook his head in a very positive way.
“Just as you like,” said the friend. “Every one to his fancy. But it strikes me that you could not do a more sensible thing than make Clara Deville your wife. You at once have a home, a pleasant companion, and come into the possession of sufficient property to relieve you of all care about the common and perplexing concerns of life. Think with what delight, ardor, and success you could then devote yourself to painting.”