sent; but _that_ is
not life--or at least it is only the life of a vegetable. Mere existence
and growth are not enough for a man who has hopes to fulfil, and
passions to exercise, and desires to expand into accomplishments, not
to speak of the influence that everyone likes to wield over his fellows.
But, come along, jump into the boat, and see these girls! I want you;
for there is one of them I scarcely understand as yet, and as I am
always taken up with her sick sister, I've had no time to learn more
about her."

"Well," said Loyd, "not to offer opposition to the notion of the tie
that binds us, I consent." And sending back to the cottage all the
details of his pursuit, he accompanied Calvert to the lake.

"The invalid girl I shall leave to your attention, Loyd," said the
other, as he pulled across the water. "I like her the best; but I am in
no fear of rivalry in that quarter, and I want to see what sort of stuff
the other is made of. So, you understand, you are to devote yourself
especially to Florence, taking care, when opportunity serves, to say all
imaginable fine things about me--my talents, my energy, my good spirits,
and so forth. I'm serious, old fellow, for I will own to you I mean to
marry one of them, though which, I have not yet decided on."

Loyd laughed heartily--far more heartily than in his quiet habit was his
wont--and said, "Since when has this bright idea occurred to you?"

"I'll tell you," said the other gravely. "I have for years had a sort
of hankering kind of half attachment to a cousin of mine. We used to
quarrel, and make up, and quarrel again; but somehow, just as careless
spendthrifts forget to destroy the old bill when they give a renewal,
and at last find a swingeing sum hanging over them they had never
dreamed of, Sophy and I never entirely cancelled our old scores, but
kept them back to be demanded at some future time. And the end has been,
a regular rupture between us, and she is going to be married at the end
of this month, and, not to be outdone on the score of indifference, I
should like to announce my own happiness, since that's the word for it,
first."

"But have you means to marry?"

"Not a shilling."

"Nor prospects?"

"None."

"Then I don't understand----"

"Of course you don't understand. Nor could I make you understand
how fellows like myself play the game of life. But let me try by an
illustration to enlighten you. When there's no wind on a boat, and her
sails f