e laughed to
himself. She was certainly a fine creature--yes, physically as well.
Her out-of-door appearance on the whole pleased him; she could dress
very plainly without disguising the advantages of figure she possessed.
He pictured her rambling about the hills, and longed to be her
companion on such an expedition; there would be no consulting with
feebleness, as when one sets forth to walk with the everyday woman.
What daring topics might come up in the course of a twenty-mile stretch
across country! No Grundyism in Rhoda Nunn; no simpering, no mincing of
phrases. Why, a man might do worse than secure her for his comrade
through the whole journey of life.

Suppose he pushed his joke to the very point of asking her to marry
him? Undoubtedly she would refuse; but how enjoyable to watch the proud
vigour of her freedom asserting itself! Yet would not an offer of
marriage be too commonplace? Rather propose to her to share his life in
a free union, without sanction of forms which neither for her nor him
were sanction at all. Was it too bold a thought?

Not if he really meant it. Uttered insincerely, such words would be
insult; she would see through his pretence of earnestness, and then
farewell to her for ever. But if his intellectual sympathy became
tinged with passion--and did he discern no possibility of that? An odd
thing were he to fall in love with Rhoda Nunn. Hitherto his ideal had
been a widely different type of woman; he had demanded rare beauty of
face, and the charm of a refined voluptuousness. To be sure, it was but
an ideal; no woman that approached it had ever come within his sphere.
The dream exercised less power over him than a few years ago; perhaps
because his youth was behind him. Rhoda might well represent the desire
of a mature man, strengthened by modern culture and with his senses
fairly subordinate to reason. Heaven forbid that he should ever tie
himself to the tame domestic female; and just as little could he seek
for a mate among the women of society, the creatures all surface, with
empty pates and vitiated blood. No marriage for him, in the common
understanding of the word. He wanted neither offspring nor a 'home'.
Rhoda Nunn, if she thought of such things at all, probably desired a
union which would permit her to remain an intellectual being; the
kitchen, the cradle, and the work-basket had no power over her
imagination. As likely as not, however, she was perfectly content with
single life--ev