ric-a-brac and poultry, and all those things.
Takes no end of trouble about the place."

"Why should not I marry the angelic domestic--the domestic angel, I
mean?"

"You won't, though. Doesn't grow in America. I know the sort of woman
you will get for your money."

"Give me an idea." Barker leaned back in his chair till it touched the
door of the cabin, and rolled his cigar in his mouth.

"Of course she will be the rage for the time. Eighteen or nineteen
summers of earthly growth, and eighteen or nineteen hundred years of
experience and calculation in a former state."

"Thanks, that sounds promising. Claudius, this is intended for your
instruction."

"You will see her first at a ball, with a cartload of nosegays slung on
her arms, and generally all over her. That will be your first
acquaintance; you will never see the last of her."

"No--I know that," said Barker gloomily.

"She will marry you out of hand after a three months' engagement. She
will be married by Worth, and you will be married by Poole. It will be
very effective, you know. No end of wedding presents, and acres of
flowers. And then you will start away on your tour, and be miserable
ever after."

"I am glad you have done," was Barker's comment.

"As for me," said Claudius, "I am of course not acquainted with the
peculiarities of American life, but I fancy the Duke is rather severe in
his judgment."

It was a mild protest against a wholesale condemnation of American
marriages; but Barker and the Duke only laughed as if they understood
each other, and Claudius had nothing more to say. He mentally compared
the utterances of these men, doubtless grounded on experience, with the
formulas he had made for himself about women, and which were undeniably
the outcome of pure theory. He found himself face to face with the old
difficulty, the apparent discord between the universal law and the
individual fact. But, on the other hand, he could not help comparing
himself with his two companions. It was not in his nature to think
slightingly of other men, but he felt that they were of a totally
different mould, besides belonging to a different race. He knew that
however much he might enjoy their society, they had nothing in common
with him, and that it was only his own strange fortune that had suddenly
transported him into the very midst of a sphere where such characters
were the rule and not the exception.

The conversation languished, and Claudius left the