They had a talk.
Tom looked silently and long at David. He was very sweet and like the Tom David would never have left, in his silence. Then he said:
“David, I hope that whatever you do, you will not marry a good and beautiful woman.”
He seemed very tired to David. The old fire was there, but it was moveless under a cloud that would not break.
David had no thought of marrying any one. No plan was farther from his consciousness. He smiled rather confidently, therefore. He was interested.
“Why?”
“Because, if you marry that sort, it will be almost impossible for you to break away.”
“Why, Tom, if one married should one want to break away?”
“Marriage has this, dreadful about it, David. It is life for a woman to be married, death for a man.”
“How is that possible? If it is good for one—— What a discord you make of the world!”