 my own.«
    »Don't malign your parents, old fellow. They gave you a brain inferior to
that of few men. You will never meet a woman of higher birth.«
    »That's a friendly sophism. I can't thank you for it, because it has a
bitter side.«
    But the compliment had excited Peak, and after a moment's delay he
exclaimed:
    »I have no other ambition in life - no other! Think the confession as
ridiculous as you like; my one supreme desire is to marry a perfectly refined
woman. Put it in the correct terms: I am a plebeian, and I aim at marrying a
lady.«
    The last words were flung out defiantly. He quivered as he spoke, and his
face flushed.
    »I can't wish you success,« returned his friend, with a grave smile.
    »You couldn't help it sounding like a sneer, if you did. The desire is
hopeless, of course. It's because I know that, that I have made up my mind to
travel for a year or two; it'll help me on towards the age when I shall regard
all women with indifference. We won't talk about it any more.«
    »One question. You seriously believe that you could find satisfaction in the
life to which such a marriage would condemn you?«
    »What life?« asked Peak, impatiently.
    »That of an average gentleman, let us say, with house in town and country,
with friends whose ruling motive was social propriety.«
    »I could enjoy the good and throw aside the distasteful.«
    »What about the distastefulness of your wife's crass conventionalism,
especially in religion?«
    »It would not be crass, to begin with. If her religion were genuine, I could
tolerate it well enough; if it were merely a form, I could train her to my own
opinions. Society is growing liberal - the best of it. Please remember that I
have in mind a woman of the highest type our civilisation can produce.«
    »Then you mustn't look for her in society!« cried Earwaker.
    »I don't care; where you will, so long as she had always lived among people
of breeding and high education, and never had her thoughts soiled with the vile
contact of poverty.«
    Earwaker started up and reached a volume from a shelf. Quickly finding the
desired page, he began to read aloud:
 
»Dear, had the world in its caprice
Deigned
