“That most of all. I tell you the lack of a sufficient income is the rock on which most married people go to pieces. It isn’t the only one, but it’s the most frequent. I’ve seen and I know.”
“You’d drive our old friend Cupid out of business, Darley. You don’t give him an inch of ground to stand on.”
“On the contrary, I keep him in business indefinitely—”
“Moreover, the examples of the rich, scattered broadcast through the daily papers, hardly bear you out.”
“They are the exception that proves the rule. Nine hundred and ninety-nine poor couples come to grief, and the world never hears of it. In the thousandth case a rich man and woman make fools of themselves and the world reads the scandal next morning. The principle is unaltered. The exceptions, the irresponsibles whether rich or poor, are something to which no rule applies.”
“All right.” Armstrong sat up, preventingly. “I don’t want to argue with you. You’re a 28 typical lawyer and always ride me down by pure force of mass.” He smiled. “Gentlemen of the law are invariably that way, Darley. Figuratively, you fellows always travel horseback while the rest of us go afoot, and if we don’t hustle out of the way you ride us down without remorse.”
Roberts was listening again in silence, with his normal attitude of passive observance.
“I’m feeling pretty spry, though, to-night,” went on the other, “and able to get out of the way, so I’m going to get in close as possible and watch you. I’ve tried to do so before, but somehow I’m always side-tracked just at the psychological moment.” The quizzical voice became serious, the flippant manner vanished. “Honestly, Darley, I can’t understand you any more than you can me. You said a bit ago you wondered where I would end. I have the same wonder about you. Just what are you aiming at, old man, anyway? In all the years I’ve known you you’ve never come right out and said in so many words.”
“You mean what do I intend to do that will make me famous or infamous, that will at least make me talked about?”