y count upon my carrying it out. If she only knew
how lonely it is at Greenwood! Breakfast, dinner, and supper--Ludwell at
the head of the table and I at the foot, and a company of ghosts in
between--"

"Ludwell may yet marry."

Fairfax Cary shook his head. "No. He'll never marry. If the Carys are
obstinate, sir, they are also constant."

Major Churchill rose, turned to the bookshelves, and drew forth a
volume. "Is he not over that?" he asked harshly.

"No, he is not. He'll never be over it. And they say matches are made in
heaven!"

"Bah! They are made on earth, and cracked hearts can be mended like any
other cracked ware. 'A little crudded milk, fantastical puff-paste,'
with a woman's name--and it has power to turn the sunshine black! Let
him play the man and put her out of mind!"

"He does play the man," answered the other, with spirit. "He neither
sulks nor shirks. It remains that there was but one woman in the world
for him, and that she is at Roselands with Lewis Rand."

The Major's book fell with a crash to the floor. He stooped quickly and
recovered it before the younger man could give him service. "I shall run
Mustapha on the sixteenth at Staunton against Carter's York," he said,
in a shaking voice. "Have you seen that Barbary mare Dick has gotten
over from England?"

"No," answered the young man. "I'll take a look at the stables before I
go. What is your book, sir?"

"It is"--said the Major. "I'm damned if I know what it is!" and he
looked at the volume in his hand. "Paul and Virginia--faugh!" He threw
the book down and stalked to the window. Fairfax Cary sat in silence,
one booted knee over the other, an arm upon the back of his chair, and
the riding-whip depending from his hand. The Major turned. "They have
laid down Pope, and Mr. Page is making his adieux! Humph! I can remember
a day when the poem was considered vastly moving. I would advise you to
strike while the iron is hot."

"Sometimes I think it will take an earthquake to move her toward me,"
said the other. "I'll give Page three minutes in which to clear out, and
then I'll try again. It would amuse you, sir, to know how many times I
have tried. If to have an object in life is praiseworthy, I am much to
be lauded!"

"You have always evinced a fine determination," admitted the Major.
"Well, life must have an object, fair or foul. With it, cark and care;
without it, ditchwater! This way disappointment; that, fungi on a log.
Vanity in eith