"Whom have you seen?"
"Mr. Monroe, an acquaintance of mine."
"The same. The lady, it seems, is his cousin,—and is, or was, my betrothed."
"And you two brave men give up, foiled by a country-girl of twenty, or thereabouts!"
"How is one to find her?"
"What is the advantage of brains to a man who doesn't use them? Consider; she will look for employment. She won't try to teach, it would be useless. She is not strong enough for hard labor. She is too modest and reserved to take a place in a shop behind a counter, where she would be sure to be discovered. She will, therefore, be found in the employ of some milliner, tailor, or bookbinder. How easy to go through those establishments!"
"You give me new courage. I will get a trades-directory and begin at once."
"To-morrow, my friend. She hasn't got a place yet, probably."
"So much the better. I shall save her the necessity."
"Go, then," said Easelmann. "You'll be happier, I suppose, to be running your legs off, if it is to no purpose. A lover with a new impulse is like a rocket when the fuse is lighted; he must needs go off with a rush, or ignobly fizz out."