," she said, when they arrived at their lodgings in Albemarle
Street, "what has come over that poor man? He has gone stupid with his
success. I could not get a word out of him. He kept staring at me
without speaking."

Was he a lumpish log, or was he a man all nerves and electricity?

In the morning Will Challice partly solved the question, because he
called and showed clearly that he was an insensible log and a lumpish
log. He sat for an hour gazing at the girl as if he would devour her,
but he said nothing.

In the evening Cousin Tom called, bringing Will Challice again--but how
changed! Was such a change really due to evening dress? Keen of feature,
bright of eye, full of animation. "Why, Will," said Nelly, "what is the
matter with you sometimes? When you were here this morning, one could
not get a word out of you. Your very face looked heavy."

He changed colour. "I have times when I--I--lose
myself--thinking--thinking of things, you know."

They passed a delightful evening. But when Will went away, the girl
became meditative. For, although he had talked without stopping, on
every kind of subject, there was no hungry look in his eye, such as she
had perceived with natural satisfaction in the morning. Every maiden
likes that look of hunger, outward sign and indication of respect to her
charms.

They were up in town for a month. Every morning Will called and sat glum
but hungry-eyed, gazing on the girl and saying nothing. Every evening he
called again and talked scholarship and politics with her father, his
face changed, his whole manner different, and without any look of
hunger in his eyes.

[Illustration: "WILL SAT GAZING ON THE GIRL."]

One day after a fortnight or so of this, Will the Animal stood up after
breakfast and spoke.

"There has got to be a change."

"You are changing, in fact," replied the other with a sneer.

"I am in love. I am going to marry a girl. Now hold your tongue," for
the Intellectual Half bounded in his chair. "You have left me very
little power of speech. Let me try to explain what I--I want to say." He
spoke painfully and slowly. "Let me--try--I have lost, bit by bit,
almost everything. I don't want to read--I can't play any more. I don't
care about anything much. But this girl I do care about. I have always
loved her, and you--you with your deuced intellect--cannot kill that
part of me. Be quiet--let me try to think. She loves me, too. She loves
me for myself, and not on acc