of whiskey
again--and that jackass, Fred--why, she's--" a lady, he would have said,
but did not dare admit to himself now that he had thought to ask her in
to "wake us up." "But what did I do? Can't think what annoyed her. Must
have been something between her and that tedious old Iden. Quite sure I
didn't do or say----" but still he could not quiet his conscience, for
if he had not by deed or word, he knew he had in thought.

He had sent for her as he might have done for any of the vulgar wenches
in the fair to amuse an idle hour, and he was ashamed of himself.

In truth, Raleigh had never seen a woman like Amaryllis Iden. Her
features were not beautiful, as general ideas go, nor had her form the
grace of full increase; indeed words, and even a portrait by a
master-hand, would have failed to carry the impression her nature had
made upon him.

It is not the particular cast of features that makes a man great, and
gives him a pre-eminence among his fellows. It is the character--the
mind.

A great genius commands attention at once by his presence, and so a
woman may equally impress by the power of her nature. Her moral strength
asserts itself in subtle ways.

I don't say for certain that it was her character that impressed
Raleigh--it might have been nothing of the sort, it might have been
_because it was so_, a woman's reason, and therefore appropriate. These
things do not happen by "why and because."

Some may say it is quite out of place to suppose a whiskey-sipping,
cutty-pipe smoking, horse-racing, bar-frequenting fellow like Raleigh
could by any possible means fall in love at first sight. But whiskey,
cutty, horse, and bar were not the real man, any more than your hat is
your head, they were mere outside chaff, he had a sound heart all the
same, a great deal sounder and better, and infinitely more generous than
some very respectable folk who are regularly seen in their pews, and
grind down their clerks and dependents to the edge of starvation.

Raleigh was capable of a good deal of heart, such as the pew-haunting
Pharisee knows not of. Perhaps he was not in love: at all events he was
highly excited.

Fred had contrived to keep old Iden from following Amaryllis by
representing that Raleigh would be sure to bring her back. The butler,
who was very well acquainted with old Iden, hastily whipped out a bottle
of champagne and handed him a brimming glass. The old gentleman, still
mouthing and bubbling over with r