a monk, we never thought that he would
become a saint in glory. When a man who has been rejected by a lady
expresses a generally ill opinion of the sex, we are apt to ascribe
his opinions to disappointment rather than to judgment. A man
falls and breaks his leg at a fence, and cannot be induced to ride
again,--not because he thinks the amusement to be dangerous, but
because he cannot keep his mind from dwelling on the hardship that
has befallen himself. In all such cases self-consciousness gets the
better of the judgment."

"You think it will be so with me?"

"I shall think so if you now refuse--because of the misfortune which
befell you--that which I know you were most desirous of possessing
before that accident. To tell you the truth, Mr. Finn, I wish Mr.
Gresham had delayed his offer till the winter."

"And why?"

"Because by that time you will have recovered your health. Your mind
now is morbid, and out of tune."

"There was something to make it so, Madame Goesler."

"God knows there was; and the necessity which lay upon you of bearing
a bold front during those long and terrible weeks of course consumed
your strength. The wonder is that the fibres of your mind should
have retained any of their elasticity after such an ordeal. But as
you are so strong, it would be a pity that you should not be strong
altogether. This thing that is now to be offered to you is what you
have always desired."

"A man may have always desired that which is worthless."

"You tried it once, and did not find it worthless. You found yourself
able to do good work when you were in office. If I remember right,
you did not give it up then because it was irksome to you, or
contemptible, or, as you say, worthless; but from difference of
opinion on some political question. You can always do that again."

"A man is not fit for office who is prone to do so."

"Then do not you be prone. It means success or failure in the
profession which you have chosen, and I shall greatly regret to see
you damage your chance of success by yielding to scruples which have
come upon you when you are hardly as yet yourself."

She had spoken to him very plainly, and he had found it to be
impossible to answer her, and yet she had hardly touched the motives
by which he believed himself to be actuated. As he made his journey
up to London he thought very much of her words. There had been
nothing said between them about money. No allusion had been made to
the sa