e said, shaking his head as she looked beseechingly at him,
"I have too much Manchester cotton in my constitution for long idylls.
And the truth is, that the first condition of work with me is your
absence. When you are with me, I can do nothing but make love to you.
You bewitch me. When I escape from you for a moment, it is only to groan
remorsefully over the hours you have tempted me to waste and the energy
you have futilized."

"If you won't live with me you had no right to marry me."

"True. But that is neither your fault nor mine. We have found that
we love each other too much--that our intercourse hinders our
usefulness--and so we must part. Not for ever, my dear; only until you
have cares and business of your own to fill up your life and prevent you
from wasting mine."

"I believe you are mad," she said petulantly. "The world is mad
nowadays, and is galloping to the deuce as fast as greed can goad it. I
merely stand out of the rush, not liking its destination. Here comes a
barge, the commander of which is devoted to me because he believes that
I am organizing a revolution for the abolition of lock dues and tolls.
We will go aboard and float down to Lyvern, whence you can return to
London. You had better telegraph from the junction to the college;
there must be a hue and cry out after us by this time. You shall have my
address, and we can write to one another or see one another whenever we
please. Or you can divorce me for deserting you."

"You would like me to, I know," said Henrietta, sobbing.

"I should die of despair, my darling," he said complacently. "Ship
aho-o-o-y! Stop crying, Hetty, for God's sake. You lacerate my very
soul."

"Ah-o-o-o-o-o-o-oy, master!" roared the bargee.

"Good arternoon, sir," said a man who, with a short whip in his hand,
trudged beside the white horse that towed the barge. "Come up!" he added
malevolently to the horse.

"I want to get on board, and go up to Lyvern with you," said Trefusis.
"He seems a well fed brute, that."

"Better fed nor me," said the man. "You can't get the work out of a
hunderfed 'orse that you can out of a hunderfed man or woman. I've bin
in parts of England where women pulled the barges. They come cheaper nor
'orses, because it didn't cost nothing to get new ones when the old ones
we wore out."

"Then why not employ them?" said Trefusis, with ironical gravity. "The
principle of buying laborforce in the cheapest market and selling its
product in