o, it's not a duel!'

'It's money, then! Bother it for money! What a deal of bad blood it leads
to. Tell me all about it, and I'll see if I can't deal with it.'

'No, it's not money; it has nothing to do with money. I'm not hard up. I
was never less so.'

'Indeed!' cried Kearney, staring at him.

'Why, what do you mean by that?'

'I was curious to see how a man looks, and I'd like to know how he feels,
that didn't want money. I can no more understand it than if a man told me
he didn't want air.'

'If he had enough to breathe freely, could he need more?'

'That would depend on the size of his lungs, and I believe mine are pretty
big. But come now, if there's nobody you want to shoot, and you have a good
balance at the banker's, what can ail you, except it's a girl you want to
marry, and she won't have you?'

'Well, there is a lady in the case.'

'Ay, ay! she's a married woman,' cried Kearney, closing one eye, and
looking intensely cunning. 'Then I may tell you at once, major, I'm no use
to you whatever. If it was a young girl that liked you against the wish
of her family, or that you were in love with though she was below you in
condition, or that was promised to another man but wanted to get out of her
bargain, I'm good for any of these, or scores more of the same kind; but if
it's mischief, and misery, and lifelong sorrow you have in your head, you
must look out for another adviser.'

'It's nothing of the kind,' said the other bluntly. 'It's marriage I was
thinking of. I want to settle down and have a wife.'

'Then why couldn't you, if you think it would be any comfort to you?'

The last words were rather uttered than spoken, and sounded like a sad
reflection uttered aloud.

'I am not a rich man,' said the major, with that strain it always cost
him to speak of himself, 'but I have got enough to live on. A goodish
old house, and a small estate, underlet as it is, bringing me about two
thousand a year, and some expectations, as they call them, from an old
grand-aunt.'

'You have enough, if you marry a prudent girl,' muttered Kearney, who was
never happier than when advocating moderation and discretion.

'Enough, at least, not to look for money with a wife.'

'I'm with you there, heart and soul,' cried Kearney. 'Of all the shabby
inventions of our civilisation, I don't know one as mean as that custom
of giving a marriage-portion with a girl. Is it to induce a man to take
her? Is it to pay for her board