"You must remember that, as the French proverb says, the most beautiful
girl in the world can give but what she has."

"Since you ask me," said Newman, "I will say frankly that I want
extremely to marry. It is time, to begin with: before I know it I shall
be forty. And then I'm lonely and helpless and dull. But if I marry now,
so long as I didn't do it in hot haste when I was twenty, I must do it
with my eyes open. I want to do the thing in handsome style. I do not
only want to make no mistakes, but I want to make a great hit. I want to
take my pick. My wife must be a magnificent woman."

"Voila ce qui s'appelle parler!" cried Mrs. Tristram.

"Oh, I have thought an immense deal about it."

"Perhaps you think too much. The best thing is simply to fall in love."

"When I find the woman who pleases me, I shall love her enough. My wife
shall be very comfortable."

"You are superb! There's a chance for the magnificent women."

"You are not fair." Newman rejoined. "You draw a fellow out and put him
off guard, and then you laugh at him."

"I assure you," said Mrs. Tristram, "that I am very serious. To prove
it, I will make you a proposal. Should you like me, as they say here, to
marry you?"

"To hunt up a wife for me?"

"She is already found. I will bring you together."

"Oh, come," said Tristram, "we don't keep a matrimonial bureau. He will
think you want your commission."

"Present me to a woman who comes up to my notions," said Newman, "and I
will marry her tomorrow."

"You have a strange tone about it, and I don't quite understand you. I
didn't suppose you would be so coldblooded and calculating."

Newman was silent a while. "Well," he said, at last, "I want a great
woman. I stick to that. That's one thing I CAN treat myself to, and if
it is to be had I mean to have it. What else have I toiled and struggled
for, all these years? I have succeeded, and now what am I to do with
my success? To make it perfect, as I see it, there must be a beautiful
woman perched on the pile, like a statue on a monument. She must be as
good as she is beautiful, and as clever as she is good. I can give my
wife a good deal, so I am not afraid to ask a good deal myself. She
shall have everything a woman can desire; I shall not even object to
her being too good for me; she may be cleverer and wiser than I can
understand, and I shall only be the better pleased. I want to possess,
in a word, the best article in the market."

"Why d