g."

"You ought to quit this business, Mantel, and come with me. I am going
to find Pepeeta, take her back to that quiet valley where I lived, and
get myself readjusted to life. I need time for reflection, and so do
you. What do you say? Will you join me? I cannot bear to leave you? You
have been a friend, and I love you!"

"Thanks, Corson, thanks. You have come nearer to stirring this dead
heart of mine than any one since--well, no matter. I reciprocate your
feeling. I shall have a hard time of it after you have gone."

"Then join me."

"It is impossible."

"But why? This life will destroy you sooner or later."

"Oh--that's been done already."

"No, it hasn't. There are more noble things in you than you realize.
What you need is to give them scope and let them out."

"You don't know me. What you see is all on the surface. If I ever had
any power of decision or action it has gone. I am the victim, and not
the master of my destiny. I am drifting along like a derelict, with no
compass to guide, rudder to steer or anchor to grip the bottom."

"Make another effort, old man, do! Look at me. I was in as bad a fix as
you are only a little while ago."

"Yes; but see what has happened to you! Circumstances have tumbled you
out of the nest, and of course you had to fly. I wish something would
happen to me! I would almost be glad to have lightning strike me."

"What you say is true in a way, of course. I know I don't deserve any
credit for breaking out of this life. But don't you think a man can do
it alone, without any such frightful catastrophes to help him? It seems
to me, now, that I could. I feel as if I could burst through stone
walls."

"Of course you do, my dear fellow, and you can. But something has put
strength into you! That's what I need."

"Well, let me put it into you! Lean on me. I can't bear to leave you
here and see you go down! Come, brace up. Make an effort. Decide. Tear
yourself away!"

"You actually make my heart flutter, Davy; I feel as if I would really
like to do it. But I can't. It's no use. I shouldn't get across the
ferry before I'd begin to hang back."

"But you don't belong to this life. You are above it, naturally. You
ought to be a force for good in the world. Society needs such men as you
are, and needs them badly. Come! If I can break these meshes you can."

"No, my dear fellow, that's a non-sequitur. There is different blood
flowing in our veins, and we have had a different env