"That's luck for me. There'll be no one else to share----"

She glanced up at him with enchanting shyness. "The trouble with most
men is, I imagine, that they don't want friendship--they want love, and
that isn't easy for a woman to give, is it?"

Silence, then at last, uncertainly, "I suppose not."

"Any man can fall in love with a woman," she informed him, "but it seems
to me that it must take certain kinds of men and women to be friends.
That's why it seems so wonderful. Why, even if I married some one else,
I could still be your friend, couldn't I?"

"Ye-es. Oh, yes, of course."

"Perhaps that's what I've missed all my life--the chance to really
inspire some one. You know it's nice to feel that you're helping. And
some men are so self-sufficient, so secure. You wouldn't feel that you'd
dare to suggest. You'd only be a child to them--and while it might be
nice to marry a man like that, it would be nice, too, to have the other
kind for a friend."

Of all the bewildering little creatures! If she married some other man,
forsooth! He set his teeth. Well, she _shouldn't_ marry any other man.

"Look here," he asked, suddenly, "have you ever been in love?"

She nodded, all rosy color and drooped lashes. The unexpectedness of her
answer made him hesitate, but finally he ventured, "How did it feel?"

She considered gravely. "Why, it's comfortable to know that you'll
always have some one to take care of you, some one who's tender and
good--too good, perhaps----"

Justin was perplexed. She had spoken in the present tense. Was it
possible that her fancy was really held by Anthony? Had their wild race
in the storm meant nothing to her? To him it had seemed a sort of
spiritual mating, with the storm crashing out a brilliant bridal chorus.

He leaned forward. "What you're talking of isn't love," he said, almost
roughly. "Love doesn't mean being comfortable; it doesn't mean being
petted and coddled like a pussy cat, or being looked after like a child.
It means what it meant to Romeo when he killed himself for love of
Juliet. It means what it meant to Orpheus when he followed Eurydice to
the underworld. It means what it will mean to me when I have found the
one woman--that I'll work for her, live for her, die for her, and count
the future blank if she does not love me in return."

"How wonderful!" she whispered after a moment "How wonderful--to be
loved--like that----"

His heart leaped. Some day he would make it wonde