ling his shoes. He
could neither answer to the purpose nor rid his face of the shocked alarm
visible in it. To have been told that Neckart was dying would have
startled him less, and seemed not so pitiable to him as to know that he
was shut out for life from love and marriage.

Neckart read his thoughts. "There's a difference in men," he said,
concealing a smile. "It would not suit you, captain, to go through life as
an anchorite or a Catholic priest, but it really agrees with me very well.
I am not a domestic man by taste, nor susceptible to woman's influence. I
have met a few women, of course, beautiful, and with the intellect and
wealth which would make them desirable wives; and I have no doubt if I had
been differently situated I should have loved and married. But it never
cost me a second thought to pass them by."

"But this obstacle--it may some day be removed?" ventured the captain.

Mr. Neckart's features settled into the hard lines again. "Not while I
live," he said.

If there was one quality in himself on which the captain could build with
confidence, it was his keen insight into other men. He read Neckart's life
as an open book. "Bruce is married already," he said to himself. "He was
precisely the kind of lad to be taken in by some creature that is now a
secret burden on him. Drinks or chews opium, I've no doubt, or has gone to
the devil with one jump. Tut! tut! He would not be divorced. I know what
his opinion is on that head. But she'll die: that sort of women never live
long.--It will all come right, Bruce," he said aloud. "There's more ruling
of eternal justice in all of our lives than we give God credit for. But
this matter astonishes me. I've heard of your intimacy with certain women
in Washington--leaders of society. I always thought of you as a marrying
man."

"Because I cannot marry I have the more right to accept whatever
entertainment or friendship women can give me," falling into his ordinary
easy tone. "I have the keenest appreciation for an ambitious woman who has
intellect and culture, and is alive with energy and coquetry. I know such
women. They seem to be full of subtle flame. Certainly, I would make a
friend of such a one. Why not? I would marry her if I could."

A moment after he looked up the beach, and seeing the captain's daughter,
smiled to think what an absolute contrast she was to this ideal live,
brilliant woman. She was sitting on a log, the dog asleep at her feet, her
hands