I would not care a straw for a woman that I could
have for the asking--who would take me as a _dernier ressort_.
Any woman that I would marry, many others would gladly marry also, and
I must take my chance of winning her from them. Such would be my lot
under any circumstances, and if I give way to a faint heart now I may
as well give up altogether and content myself with a library as a
bride."
Since he felt that he might have taken Hilland into his confidence, he
had, in terms substantially the same as those given, imagined his
explanation, and he smiled as he portrayed to himself his friend's
jocular response, which would have nevertheless its substratum of true
sympathy. "Hilland would say," he thought, "'That is just like you,
Graham. You can't smoke a cigar or make love to a girl without
analyzing and philosophizing and arranging all the wisdom of Solomon
in favor of your course. Now I would make love to a girl because I
loved her, and that would be the end on't.'"
Graham was mistaken in this case. Not in laughing sympathy, but in
pale dismay, would Hilland have received this revelation, for _he_ was
making love to Grace St.
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