t, Mr. Gouger," he said, turning to that gentleman. "I do
not know anything. I have judged by appearances, and I now see that
truth cannot be learned in that way."

"All the better!" broke in Archie. "The surest progress is made by the
man who has learned his deficiencies. You remember the hare and the
tortoise. I have read somewhere that the race is not always to the
swift. You must treat your fellow men and women as if you had just
arrived on this earth from the planet Mars. You must dig through the
strata of conventionality to the virgin soil beneath. The great human
passions are lust and avarice, though they take a thousand forms, in
many of which they have more polite names. For instance, the former,
when kept within polite boundaries, is usually known as Love. As Avarice
makes but a sorry theme for the romantic writer, Love is the subject
that must principally claim your attention. All the world loves a lover,
while the miser is despised even by those who cringe beneath the power
of his gold. Study the women, my lad, and when you know them thoroughly
begin your great novel in earnest."

Roseleaf listened with rapt attention.

"And the men?" he asked.

"The men," was the quick reply, "are too transparent to require study.
It is the women, with their ten million tricks to cajole and wheedle us,
that afford the best field for your efforts."

Mr. Gouger, who had never been known to take so much time from his work
during business hours, tried to begin his reading, but without success.
When at his usual occupation he would not have been disturbed by the
conversation of a room full of people, so preoccupied was he with what
he had to do; but on this occasion he was too much entertained with his
companions to do anything but hear them through.

"Is there no such thing as unselfish love--in a woman--love that
sacrifices itself for its object?" asked Roseleaf, with a trace of
anxiety in his tone.

"M----m, possibly," drawled Mr. Weil. "A female animal with young
sometimes evinces the possession of that sort of thing, and women may
have touches of it on occasions. That will be a good point for you to
remember when you are deeper in your investigations. However, I ought
not to fill your head with ideas of my own. I think what we most desire
in our friend," he added, turning to the critic, "is complete
originality."

The young man shifted his feet nervously.

"Pardon me," he said, "would it not be well to talk with