same thing as
shining virtue, or else Caroline would have been generous. I am sure I
should be particularly grateful to any woman who made me rich."

"Why woman, Roland?"

"Well, because if a man puts any money in my way he expects me to
work for it and with it; to invest it and double it; to give an
account of it; to sacrifice myself body and soul for it. But a dear
little darling woman would never ask me questions and never worry me
about interest. She would take love and kisses as full value
received--unless she was a girl like Caroline, an unwomanly,
mercenary, practical, matter-of-money creature."

"Do not talk in that way of Caroline."

"I am talking of her money, and it is no impeachment of its value to
say that it is mortal like herself. Still, I am ready to acknowledge

"'How pleasant it is to have money, heigho!
How pleasant it is to have money!'

and as much of it as possible, Elizabeth."

"We come to no definite results by talking in this way, Roland. When
you get to singing snatches of song I may as well be quiet. And yet I
am so unhappy about you. O Roland! Roland! my dear, dear brother, what
can I do for you?"

She covered her face with her hands, and Roland took them away with
gentle force. "Elizabeth, do not cry for me. I am not worth a tear.
Darling, I will do anything you want me to do."

"If I get Robert to give you a desk in the bank?"

"Well, love, anything but that. I really cannot bear the confinement.
I should die of consumption; besides, I have a moral weakness,
Elizabeth, that I am bound to consider--there are times, dear, when I
get awfully mixed and cannot help

"'Confounding the difference 'twixt _meum_ and _tuum_
By kindly converting it all into _suum_.'"

"O Roland, I really do not know what you are fit for!"

"If I had been born three or four centuries ago I could have been
a knight-errant or a troubadour. But alas! in these days the
knight-errants go to the Stock Exchange and the troubadours write
for the newspapers. I am not fitted to wrestle with the wild beasts of
the money market; I would rather go to Spain and be a matador."

"Roland, here comes Robert. Do try and talk like a man of ordinary
intelligence. Robert wants to like you--wants to help you if you will
let him."

"Yes, in his way. I want to be helped in my own way. Good-evening,
Robert! I am glad you were not caught in the rain."

The grave face brightened to the charm of the young man, and then