on. 'Go 'way,' she says to you, an' you go.
'Come back,' she whispers to herself, an' you don't hear it. Yet all
the time she's wonderin' pfwhy you don't!"

Franklin smiled in spite of himself. "Battersleigh's Tactics and
Manual of Strategy," he murmured. "All right, old man. I thank you
just the same. I presume I'll live, at the worst. And there's a bit
in life besides what we want for ourselves, you know."

"There's naught in life but what we're ready to take for oursilves!"
cried Battersleigh. "I'll talk no fable of other fishes in the say for
ye. Take what ye want, if ye'll have it. An' hearken; there's more to
Ned Franklin than bein' a land agent and a petty lawyer. It's not for
ye yersilf to sit an' mope, neyther to spind your life diggin' in a
musty desk. Ye're to grow, man; ye're to grow! Do ye not feel the day
an' hour? Man, did ye nivver think o' Destiny?"

"I've never been able not to believe in it," said Franklin. "To some
men all things come easily, while others get on only by the hardest
knocks; and some go always close to success, but die just short of the
parapet. I haven't myself classified, just yet."

"Ye have your dreams, boy?"

"Yes; I have my dreams."

"All colours are alike," said Battersleigh. "Now, whut is my young
Injun savage doin', when he goes out alone, on top of some high hill,
an' builds him a little fire, an' talks with his familiar spirits,
which he calls here his 'drame'? Isn't he searchin' an' feelin' o'
himsilf, same as the haythin in far-away Ingy? Git your nose up, Ned,
or you'll be unwittin' classifyin' yersilf with the great slave class
which we lift behind not long ago, but which is follyin' us hard and
far. Git your nose up, fer it's Batty has been thinkin' ye've Destiny
inside your skin. Listen to Batty the Fool, and search your sowl.
I'll tell ye this: I've the feelin' that I'll be hearin' of ye, in all
the marrches o' the worrld. Don't disappoint me, Ned, for the ould man
has belaved in ye--more than ye've belaved in yersilf. As to the
gyurl--bah!--go marry her some day, av ye've nothin' more importhant on
yer hands.

"But, me dear boy, spakin' o' importhant things, I ralely must be goin'
now. I've certain importhant preparations that are essintial before I
get dhrunk this avenin'--"

"O Battersleigh, do be sensible," said Franklin, "and do give up this
talk of getting drunk. Come over here this evening and talk with me.
It's much better t