you with an unearthly charm, like some starlight evening; they
inspire a wild but not warm delight; their beauty is the beauty of
spirits; their grace is not the grace of life, but of seasons or scenes
in nature. Theirs is the dewy bloom of morning, the languid flush of
evening, the peace of the moon, the changefulness of clouds. I want and
will have something different. This elfish splendour looks chill to my
vision, and feels frozen to my touch. I am not a poet; I cannot live
with abstractions. You, Miss Keeldar, have sometimes, in your laughing
satire, called me a material philosopher, and implied that I live
sufficiently for the substantial. Certainly I feel material from head to
foot; and glorious as Nature is, and deeply as I worship her with the
solid powers of a solid heart, I would rather behold her through the
soft human eyes of a loved and lovely wife than through the wild orbs of
the highest goddess of Olympus.'

"'Juno could not cook a buffalo steak as you like it,' said she.

"'She could not; but I will tell you who could--some young, penniless,
friendless orphan girl. I wish I could find such a one--pretty enough
for me to love, with something of the mind and heart suited to my taste;
not uneducated--honest and modest. I care nothing for attainments, but I
would fain have the germ of those sweet natural powers which nothing
acquired can rival; any temper Fate wills--I can manage the hottest. To
such a creature as this I should like to be first tutor and then
husband. I would teach her my language, my habits and my principles, and
then I would reward her with my love.'

"'_Reward_ her, lord of the creation--_reward_ her!'" ejaculated she,
with a curled lip.

"'And be repaid a thousandfold.'

"'If she willed it, monseigneur.'

"'And she _should_ will it.'

"'You have stipulated for any temper Fate wills. Compulsion is flint and
a blow to the metal of some souls.'

"'And love the spark it elicits.'

"'Who cares for the love that is but a spark--seen, flown upward, and
gone?'

"'I must find my orphan girl. Tell me how, Miss Keeldar.'

"'Advertise; and be sure you add, when you describe the qualifications,
she must be a good plain cook.'

"'I must find her; and when I do find her I shall marry her.'

"'Not you!' and her voice took a sudden accent of peculiar scorn.

"I liked this. I had roused her from the pensive mood in which I had
first found her. I would stir her further.

"'Why doubt i