. Suicide is
the act of a coward. It is the resort of one who frankly admits that
his troubles are greater than he has the manhood to bear. Now, you
have, when one regards you closely, the look of a man and a
gentleman."

"Thank you for your good opinion, sir," replied the stranger, bowing.
"I will say that I was born a gentleman."

"And you still are one, and a man, as well as a gentleman," Dave
continued, gently. "Therefore, you are not afraid to face life."

"What is there left to me to make life worth living?" queried the
stranger.

"Why should you have the least desire to die?" Dave countered.

"I have lost all my money."

"That is a very slight matter," Darrin argued. "Lost all your money,
have you? Why, my dear fellow, there's a lot more in the world."

"But none of the money now in the world is mine," urged the desperate
one.

"Then make a part of the world's money yours," the young naval officer
retorted, smilingly.

"I have never worked," replied the stranger stiffly.

"Why not?" Dave pressed.

"I never had need to."

"But now you have the need, and working for money will bring some
novelty into your life," the young ensign insisted.

"Did I not tell you that I was born a gentleman?" inquired the young
man, raising his eyebrows. "A gentleman never works!"

"Some gentlemen don't," Dave admitted. "But they are the wrong kind of
gentlemen."

"If I mistake not," quizzed the stranger keenly, "you are a gentleman,
yourself."

"I trust that I am," Dave responded gravely.

"Then do you work?"

"More hours a day than any laborer does," Darrin answered promptly. "I
am a naval officer."

"Ah, but that is a career of honor--of glory!" cried the stranger.

"And so is any honest job of work that a man takes up in earnest and
carries through to the best of his ability," Dave Darrin returned with
warmth.

"But you see, sir," argued the stranger, though now he was smiling,
"you have been trained to a profession. I never was so trained."

"You are young?"

"Twenty-four."

"Then you are young enough to change your mind and recognize the
dignity of labor," Darrin continued. "You are also young enough and,
unless I mistake you, bright enough to win a very good place in life
for yourself. And you are man enough, now you have had time to think
it over, to see the wickedness of destroying yourself. Man, _make_
yourself instead."

"I'll do it! I will make myself!" promised the stranger, with a new