Alice Duer Miller

“ The older civilizations know that jealousy and passion and all those things aren't for domestic consumption. My daughter keeps saying that it's terrible to marry a man you don't love. So it is, but life's terrible. It's probably a little more terrible not to be married at all—I can't make her see that.”
“I think you're wrong,” said Rawley.
“Ah,” said this alarming woman, “wait until you're older. Wait until you're old and sick and lonely and no one wants to come and take care of you.” ”

“ The suspicion that this was not the stuff out of which big game hunters are made flashed through Rawley's mind, but was instantly repressed. “You make a great mistake,” he said. “If you marry a woman against her will, everything that goes wrong is your fault. It's bad enough on a fifty-fifty basis. But if there is any chance that she may change her mind again, nothing would make her do it as quickly as the knowledge that you had something better to do.”
“Better?” said the boy.
“Better, in my opinion,” answered Rawley.
“You think women are like that?”
“I think every one is like that. ”

“ Any girl would listen to a man like you—a man who's done the things you've done.”
Rawley was no more susceptible to flattery than any nice person ought to be, but this hardly seemed credible. “She probably never heard my name,” he answered.
“Oh, yes, she has. I've talked about you to her—she knows all about what you did in the Caucasus. Tell her what you just said about taking me or leaving me. You could make the African trip sound much more wonderful than I could.” ”

“ His manner grew noticeably brisk and gay. “Good-by,” he said.
“And one other thing,” said the boy with a certain swagger, “I don't think that I care to go on your African trip either.”
“Of course not,” said the bishop. “You're going to stay here and be married.”
“In any case, I shouldn't care to go with this gentleman,” said Freddie. “Doubtless he can find some one in my place.”
“Yes,” said Rawley, “I think I can. I think I know just the person,” and waving his hand with unusual gayety, he ran down the garden steps and disappeared. ”

“ He took one of these resolutions now, moved, he would have said, by pity, but actually, more likely, by his irritation with the Bruces.
“Now listen to me,” he said in the tone of a man accustomed to being listened to. “Whenever you lose anything in this world, no matter how valuable, there is always a compensating freedom. The trick is to use that freedom to the utmost. I haven't seen your fiancée, but I am going to offer you something that is a good exchange for any girl. I'm starting for East Africa the day after to-morrow, and I'll take you with me, if you want to go. ”

“ Rawley pulled himself together and, opening the door of the garret stairs, went up them.
He unlocked the door of his own cupboard and took the “450” from the shelf. For the first time in his life the sight of a gun-case failed to give him a thrill of anticipation. Could it be, he said to himself, that any man could lose his interest in lions? ”

“ Only if Freddie wouldn't cry so much.”
“Does he cry?” said Rawley, thinking that really if he went about crying in the heart of Africa——
“Only because he loves her so much,” said Mrs. Bruce. “Oh, I'm entirely on his side. I think she ought to go through with it now, no matter how she feels. I can't face the scandal of turning every one away. Besides, between ourselves, Mr. Severidge, it doesn't make much difference after a year or so whom you marry. Romantic love makes so much trouble. That's the reason we have so many divorces in this country, because we're so romantic. ”

“ He sighed and raised the gun to his shoulder. “I don't suppose I could hit a barn door now.”
“Probably you could,” answered Rawley, not manifesting too much interest. “A good eye is always a good eye.”
“It's true,” said the bishop, “that my eye was a fair one at all sports, and I noticed just the other day, at one of these church fairs where they have such contests— But this was not what I came to speak of, Mr. Rawley.” ”

“ Then, when for the third time he was ready to settle down, a wonderful opportunity for taking over another man's shooting trip in East Africa had tempted him. This time he had decided to rent the house—shooting in East Africa being an expensive luxury. ”

“ THE BRIDE HAD CONSENTED He told his chauffeur to stop the car at the entrance to the lower garden, and as he mounted the stone steps he looked up at the house with affection—his house—his home—though he had hardly lived there since he bought it. ”