e other thing! My old Buddy has never limited me as to
money; the only time when she is annoyed, is when I've not spent enough.
I have quite a battalion of lost causes dependent on me now. It would
hurt to give them up."

There was a moment's silence, then:

"And have you _no_ idea?" asked Martin tentatively. "None at all,
whether in the end--?"

Grizel laughed. It was rare indeed that she was serious for more than a
minute at a time.

"Not--one! Isn't it odd? Like a position in a _feuilleton_. Never
once has the subject been mentioned between us. I have had, as I said,
command of unlimited money since I left school, but she dreads the idea
of death; it must never be mentioned in her presence, or anything
approximately suggesting it. For the last few years she has been, of
course, increasingly irresponsible, but before that we lived always as
if the present would last for ever... She has never even alluded to the
time when I should be alone."

"But surely there must have been,--I know, Grizel, that there have been
men,--many men!"

"Ah!" cried Grizel deeply, and chuckled with reminiscent enjoyment.
"Just so. There _was_ one, a bold one, who questioned her point blank
on her intentions. He lived; he came out of the room alive, but that
was as much as one could say. He got the best dressing down of _his_
life, but that was all he did get. And he didn't trouble me any more."

"Cur! But they were not all so mercenary?"

"No." Grizel looked thoughtful once more. "Certainly not. I like men.
They are nice things; not really mercenary unless they're obliged. But
it's a difficult position to saddle yourself with a wife who _may_ turn
out a colossal heiress, or on the other hand--a pauper! It complicates
the position, and in one way or other is pretty well bound to lead to
trouble. The man who would appreciate the one, is bound to object to
t'other, and it's such a contrary world, that the t'other it would
almost certainly be... When you are making a choice for life, you ought
to understand where you are. You see, Martin," she turned towards him
with a smile, "it would not _be fair_!"

"And--" he said hoarsely, "was _that_ the reason why you never--?"

Grizel put her head on one side, and stared thoughtfully into the blaze.

"Partly. Mostly. Yes! And my old Buddy. She won't live long, and I
owe her so much. But mostly the idea of playing the game. Most of the
men I have met have positions