in a corner to brood over the fancy licks that Fate handed him--_he_
isn't dealing fairly and squarely by his principles or by a decent and
generous world that stands to back him for the next round. Is he, Phil?"

"Do you mean to say, Boots, that you think a man who has made the
ghastly mess of his life that I have, ought to feel free to marry?"

"Think it! Man, I know it. Certainly you ought to marry if you
wish--but, above all, you ought to feel free to marry. That is the
essential equipment of a man; he isn't a man if he feels that he isn't
free to marry. He may not want to do it, he may not be in love. That's
neither here nor there; the main thing is that he is as free as a man
should be to take any good opportunity--and marriage is included in the
list of good opportunities. If you become a slave to morbid notions, no
wonder you are depressed. Slaves usually are. Do you want to slink
through life? Then shake yourself, I tell you; learn to understand that
you're free to do what any decent man may do. That will take the
morbidness out of you. That will colour life for you. I don't say go
hunting for some one to love; I do say, don't avoid her when you meet
her."

"You preach a very gay sermon, Boots," he said, folding his arms. "I've
heard something similar from my sister. As a matter of fact I think you
are partly right, too; but if the inclination for the freedom you insist
I take is wanting, then what? I don't wish to marry, Boots; I am not in
love, therefore the prospect of home and kids is premature and vague,
isn't it?"

"As long as it's a prospect or a possibility I don't care how vague it
is," said the other cordially. "Will you admit it's a possibility?
That's all I ask."

"If it will please you, yes, I will admit it. I have altered certain
ideas, Boots; I cannot, just now, conceive of any circumstances under
which I should feel justified in marrying, but such circumstances might
arise; I'll say that much."

Yet until that moment he had not dreamed of admitting as much to
anybody, even to himself; but Lansing's logic, his own loneliness, his
disappointment in Gerald, had combined to make him doubt his own
methods of procedure. Too, the interview with Alixe Ruthven had not only
knocked all complacency and conceit out of him, but had made him so
self-distrustful that he was in a mood to listen respectfully to his
peers on any question.

He was wondering now whether Boots had recognised Alixe when he h