"Pray pardon me," she continued; "do not think that it is from mere
curiosity that I ask the question. Is there really no truth in the
report?"
"None whatever," he replied. "I have no more idea of being married than
I have of sailing this moment for the Cape."
"It is strange," said the duchess, musingly; "I had the information from
such good authority, too."
"There can be no better authority on the subject," said Lord Arleigh,
laughingly, "than myself."
"You; I admit that. Well, as the ice is broken, Lord Arleigh, and we are
old friends, I may ask, why do you not marry?"
"Simply because of marriage, and of love that ends in marriage, I have
not thought," he answered lightly.
"It is time for you to begin," observed the duchess; "my own impression
is that a man does no good in the world until he is married." And then
she added: "I suppose you have an ideal of womanhood?"
Lord Arleigh's face flushed.
"Yes," he acknowledged, "I have an ideal of my own, derived from poetry
I have read, from pictures I have seen--an ideal of perfect grace,
loveliness, and purity. When I meet that ideal, I shall meet my fate.
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