eston, who had, however, no great interest in
the matter.

"She has too level a head," Grenfell said. "It's as fatal in art as it
is in some professions. You have to concentrate, hang on to the one
thing, and give yourself to it. Miss Kinnaird couldn't do that. She
must stop and count the cost. To make anything of this life one now
and then must shut one's eyes to that. There generally has to be a
sacrifice."

He broke off, and looked at his companion rather curiously.

"The other girl could make it. She wouldn't ask whether it were worth
while."

Weston was a trifle startled. He had that very day seen something in
Ida Stirling's eyes that seemed to bear out what his comrade
suggested. It had been there for only a moment, which he felt might
have been fateful to both of them, and he knew that it was beyond his
power to analyze all the qualities that the look had suggested. It
had, however, hinted at a courage sufficient to set at defiance
conventions and the opinions of her friends, and at the capacity to
make a costly sacrifice.

"You seem sure of that?"

"Well," said Grenfell, reflectively, "I think I am. You see in one or
two respects I'm like Miss Stirling."

"You like Miss Stirling!"

There was an indignant protest in Weston's voice which brought a
twinkle into Grenfell's watery eyes.

"Just so," he said. "When I know what I want the most, I set about
getting it. I guess that's sense--sense that's way beyond prudence.
What one wants is, in a general way, what one likes, which is a very
different thing from what's good for one. It's very seldom that one
finds the latter nice. Get these distinctions?"

"I can't see the drift of them," said Weston, impatiently.

"It may strike you as we proceed. If you stop to consider whether it's
judicious to reach out for the thing you want, you generally end by
not getting it or anything else. Isn't it better to clutch with
courage, even if you have to face the cost?"

"I'm not sure," said Weston, dryly. "Is it quite impossible to like a
thing it is desirable that you should have?"

"One doesn't often like it," explained Grenfell, with a grin. "Even
when one does, the same principle applies. As a rule, one can't get it
without a sacrifice."

"That's the principle you acted on?"

Grenfell spread out his hands.

"I guess it is," he said. "In my case the thing I wanted wasn't good
for me. I had to choose between my profession and whisky, and I did.
Anyway, I've