t?"

"I'm not sure. What kind of woman do you think she ought to be?"

Merry's face sobered, and she became thoughtfully serious. "First of
all, a woman who loved you," she said at length; "that goes without
saying."

It was Cosden who smiled this time. "I see you still have some
old-fashioned ideas left; I had looked upon you as absolutely
up-to-date."

"Is love old-fashioned?"

"Love is a result rather than a cause. It comes from the combination of
one or more causes: propinquity, similarity of tastes, natural
attributes, I might go on indefinitely. Two natures are attracted to
each other before marriage, but love really comes as a result of the
closer companionship which follows. Could anything be more common-sense
or scientific than that?"

"Is that what men believe?" she asked.

"Not all; which explains the appalling list of matrimonial bankrupts."

They were out beyond Ireland Island now, past the great dry-dock and the
barracks. The girl brought the boat about and started on the homeward
tack.

"That is a very interesting idea," she said soberly as she shifted to
starboard. "It never occurred to me that love had become a commodity.
That is very interesting."

"But you haven't told me what kind of woman you think my wife should
be," Cosden insisted.

"She should be a poor girl, of good birth and personal attractions," she
answered promptly.

"Why poor?"

"Because otherwise she would be giving everything and you nothing. You
must supply something which she lacks or it wouldn't be a fair trade,
would it? If a woman loves a man, there is no need to measure what she
gives against what she receives, but your 'common-sense' plan suggests
it, and from a 'scientific' standpoint I should think it absolutely
essential."

"But your statement is not correct, Miss Merry," Cosden protested
earnestly. "You would do me an injustice if you stopped at that point:
am I not offering her my name and my protection?"

"Of course all this is an imaginary situation," Merry laughed
mischievously, "or I shouldn't dare to speak so freely; but in justice
to my sex I can't stop now: suppose her name is as good as yours, and
that she is entirely competent to protect herself?"

"Great Scott! Don't tell me you are a suffragist!"

"But you would want this woman you--intend to get to be a suffragist,
wouldn't you?"

"Not under any circumstances!"

"Still, your marriage is to be on an up-to-date common-sense, scientific
b