yet she would be a woman. And as such her interests must be
opposed to yours forever. Should you marry her, I would be forced to
agree with her and oppose you wherever you stepped beyond
conventionality."

Suddenly Long turned on his tormentor with a bold question.

"Your marriage you would not consider a failure, even under worse
conditions?"

The doctor winced at this thrust, which he considered legitimate.

He had had his moments of doubt even in the thick of his loyalty to
his wife and child when this question had tormented him. Miasmatic
moments that come to firm men also, and make them dizzy with the
thought of the mere waywardness of life. Had he been any better or
wiser than Roper Ellwell? When the test of a vital passion had come he
had acted like any other inconsiderate, purposeless young man, like
any one with a chaotic will-less past!

But this temptation he had mastered, as he had mastered almost all
the elements of his fate.

"That kind of a question can never be answered fairly. No one has the
complete data. No! I can honestly say _no_. Yet it has altered my life
profoundly, that I can say."

"Then why are you so pessimistic for me?"

"Because," the doctor replied, slowly, "such a marriage as mine has
been, such a marriage as yours would be, is a career in itself. Beyond
that _nothing_--understand, _nothing_."

"Love is a great career!"

"It is; but there is hardly a man I have ever known who could embrace
it, and that only, for a lifetime. You could not, I think, and you
would be miserable. It is a humble career though it is rich. The man
who wins does not devote his life to an exacting passion for a
neurotic woman. You are the man to win: go in."

The doctor rose.

"Now I must leave you to see a patient who has been waiting.
Think--you don't love her, poor child; what do you know of love? You
are putting your mind in order for love, and it will come quickly
enough."

Long stared irresponsibly at the floor. "I am glad we have been able
to talk this over without passion. You have not obliged me to use any
coarse authority, or any influence except your own sane judgment. We
have been unsentimental men. You have confessed to nothing more than a
liking for a pretty girl. You have committed yourself to nothing."

The doctor paused, resting his hands firmly on the table between them.
He read the young man's face eagerly, and he felt sure that he had
gained his point.

"Now, go," he contin