ke the Burns man himself.

"The first time I talked with him at the inn I felt his power, his
charm; but there was something in his ways to which I had never been
accustomed in men--a certain freedom, which I put by, however, as one
of the peculiarities of his gift.

"Well," she said, coming over and burying her face in my breast, "it
took me but two weeks to discover that the thing we call genius has no
more to do with a person's character than the chair he sits in; that a
man can write like a god and live like the beasts in the fields. Can
speak of Christian charity like the disciples of old, and hold the next
person who offends him up to the ridicule of the whole parish! That he
can write lines surpassing--aye!" she cried, "_surpassing_ Polonius's
advice to his son, and leave them uncopied on an ale-house table to go
off with the first loose woman who comes by, and be carried home, too
drunk to walk, the next morning, roaring out hymns about eternal
salvation.

"And after I met the Armour girl, and found the harm that Burns had
brought to her, my idol fell from its clay feet, and I was alone in a
strange country, with my gods gone, and my beliefs in shreds around me.

"But I have made my readjustments. I am humbled. I see how little value
verse-making holds to the real task of living, and I am a better woman
for what I have been through. I have learned--almost losing my mind
over the lesson," she interjected, with her own bright smile--"the
value of the solid virtues of life; and I've come to the conclusion
that it is harder to be a gentleman than a genius. God makes one, but a
man has the handling of the other upon himself. Danvers Carmichael,"
she continued, looking up at me, "is a gentleman. His word is his bond.
He considers others, respects woman and honors her; controls his
nature, and has a code of conduct which he would rather die than break.
Ah!" she said, "I have had a bitter time; but it's taught me to
appreciate that in the real things of life--the things for which we are
here, love, home, and the rearing of children--genius has about as much
part as the royal Bengal tiger. It's beautiful to look at, but
dangerous to trifle with, and,"--here she smiled at her own earnestness
for a second as she started up the stairs--"and here endeth the first
lesson, my Lord of Stair!"

I was in no way sorry as to her conclusions about the value of
verse-making, for I had seen that her continual mental excitement wa