nd disinterested.
And I would rather die than fail her."

"Then you think she doesn't care?" Isabel said.

Scott turned his eyes upon her. "Personally, I came to that conclusion
long ago," he said. "No woman could ever hang a serious romance around
me, Isabel. I am not the right sort. If Dinah imagined for a moment that
I were capable of making love in the ordinary way, our friendship would
go to the bottom forthwith. No, my dear; put the thought out of your
mind! The Stumpys of this world must be resigned to go unpaired. They
must content themselves with the outer husk. It's that or nothing."

Isabel's smile was full of tenderness. "You talk as one who knows," she
said. "But I wonder if you do."

"Oh yes," Scott said. "I've learned my lesson. I've been given an
ordinary soul in an extraordinary body, and I've got to make the best of
it. You can't ignore the body, you know, Isabel. It plays a mighty big
part in this mortal life. The idea of any woman falling in love with me
in my present human tenement is ridiculous, and I have put it out of my
mind for good."

Isabel's eyes were shining. She clasped his hand closer. "I think you are
quite wrong, Stumpy dear," she said. "If your soul matched your body,
then there might be something in your argument. But it doesn't. And--if
you don't mind my saying so--your soul is far the most extraordinary
part of your personality. Little Dinah found out long ago that you
were--greathearted."

Scott smiled a little. "Oh yes, I know she views me through a
magnifying-glass and reveres me accordingly. Hence our friendship. But,
my dear, that isn't being in love. I believe that somewhere there is a
shadowy person whom she cherishes in the very inner secrecy of her heart.
Who he is or what he is, I don't know. He is probably something very
different from the dream-being she worships. We all are. But I feel that
he is there. Probably I have never met the actual man. I have only seen
his shadow and that by inadvertence. I once penetrated the secret chamber
for one moment only, and then I was driven forth and the door securely
locked. I am not good at trespassing, you know, for all my greatness. I
have never been near the secret chamber since."

"Do you mean that she admitted to you that--she cared for someone?"
Isabel asked.

Scott's pale eyes had a quizzical look. "I had the consideration to back
out before she had time to do anything so unmaidenly," he said. "Possibly
the shadowma