tell me about her becoming an old
maid, because at her time of life she has been so unfortunate as to
come across a false-hearted man like that. It may take a little time;
but if you'll carry on and not be down-hearted, you'll find it will
all come right in the end. Everybody doesn't get all that they want
in a minute. How I shall quiz you about all this when you have been
two or three years married!"

"I don't think I shall ever be able to ask her again; and I feel
sure, if I do, that her answer will be the same. She told me in so
many words; but never mind, I cannot repeat her words."

"I don't want you to repeat them; nor yet to heed them beyond their
worth. Lily Dale is a very pretty girl; clever, too, I believe, and
good, I'm sure; but her words are not more sacred than those of other
men or women. What she has said to you now, she means, no doubt; but
the minds of men and women are prone to change, especially when such
changes are conducive to their own happiness."

"At any rate I'll never forget your kindness, Lord De Guest."

"And there is one other thing I want to say to you, Johnny. A man
should never allow himself to be cast down by anything,--not
outwardly, to the eyes of other men."

"But how is he to help it?"

"His pluck should prevent him. You were not afraid of a roaring bull,
nor yet of that man when you thrashed him at the railway station.
You've pluck enough of that kind. You must now show that you've that
other kind of pluck. You know the story of the boy who would not cry
though the wolf was gnawing him underneath his frock. Most of us have
some wolf to gnaw us somewhere; but we are generally gnawed beneath
our clothes, so that the world doesn't see; and it behoves us so to
bear it that the world shall not suspect. The man who goes about
declaring himself to be miserable will be not only miserable, but
contemptible as well."

"But the wolf hasn't gnawed me beneath my clothes; everybody knows
it."

"Then let those who do know it learn that you are able to bear such
wounds without outward complaint. I tell you fairly that I cannot
sympathise with a lackadaisical lover."

"I know that I have made myself ridiculous to everybody. I wish I had
never come here. I wish you had never seen me."

"Don't say that, my dear boy; but take my advice for what it is
worth. And remember what it is that I say; with your grief I do
sympathise, but not with any outward expression of it;--not with
melancho