r races, but
with a Teutonic love; and when she said, 'I was too late,' it was the
declaration of a heart whose valves worked under a moderate pressure,
and never risked an explosion."

"But how do you know that she was not alluding to the train, and to your
being late to receive them on the landing?" asked Tony.

"Ain't you prosaic, Tony,--ain't you six-and-eight-pence! with your dull
and commonplace interpretation! I tell you, sir, that she meant, 'I love
you, but it is in vain,--I love you, but another is before you,--I love
you, but you come too late!'"

"And what did you do?" asked Tony, anxious to relieve himself from a
position of some awkwardness.

"I acted with dignity, sir. I resigned in the Household, and got
appointed to the Colonial."

"And what does it all prove, except it be something against your own
theory, that a man should think there is nothing too high for his
reach?"

"Verily, Tony, I have much to teach you," said Skeffy, gravely, but
good-naturedly. "This little incident shows by what slight casualties
our fortunes are swayed: had it not been for Max of Hammelsbraten,
where might not I have been to-day? It is by the flaw in the metal the
strength of the gun is measured,--so it is by a man's failures in life
you can estimate his value. Another would not have dared to raise his
eyes so high!"

"That I can well believe," said Tony, dryly.

"You, for instance, would no more have permitted yourself to fall in
love with her, than you'd have thought of tossing for half-crowns with
the Prince her father."

"Pretty much the same," muttered Tony.

"That 's it,--that is exactly what establishes the difference between
men in life. It is by the elevation given to the cannon that the ball is
thrown so far. It is by the high purpose of a man that you measure his
genius."

"All the genius in the world won't make you able to take a horse over
seven feet of a stone wall," said Tony; "and whatever is impossible has
no interest for me."

"You never can say what is impossible," broke in Skeffy. "I 'll tell you
experiences of mine, and you 'll exclaim at every step, 'How could that
be?'" Skeffy had now thoroughly warmed to his theme,--the theme he loved
best in the world,--himself; for he was one of those who "take out" all
their egotism in talk. Let him only speak of himself, and he was ready
to act heartily and energetically in the cause of his friends. All
that he possessed was at their service,--hi