against a man's general strength of
character, that he should be apt to be mastered by love. A fine constitution
doesn't insure one against smallpox or any other of those inevitable diseases. A
man may be very firm in other matters, and yet be under a sort of witchery from
a woman.«
    »Yes; but there's this difference between love and small-pox, or bewitchment
either - that if you detect the disease at an early stage and try change of air,
there is every chance of complete escape without any further development of
symptoms. And there are certain alterative doses which a man may administer to
himself by keeping unpleasant consequences before his mind: this gives you a
sort of smoked glass through which you may look at the resplendent fair one and
discern her true outline; though I'm afraid, by the by, the smoked glass is apt
to be missing just at the moment it is most wanted. I daresay, now, even a man
fortified with a knowledge of the classics might be lured into an imprudent
marriage, in spite of the warning given him by the chorus in the Prometheus.«
    The smile that flitted across Arthur's face was a faint one, and instead of
following Mr. Irwine's playful lead, he said, quite seriously - »Yes, that's the
worst of it. It's a desperately vexatious thing, that after all one's
reflections and quiet determinations, we should be ruled by moods that one can't
calculate on beforehand. I don't think a man ought to be blamed so much if he is
betrayed into doing things in that way, in spite of his resolutions.«
    »Ah, but the moods lie in his nature, my boy, just as much as his
reflections did, and more. A man can never do anything at variance with his own
nature. He carries within him the germ of his most exceptional action; and if we
wise people make eminent fools of ourselves on any particular occasion, we must
endure the legitimate conclusion that we carry a few grains of folly to our
ounce of wisdom.«
    »Well, but one may be betrayed into doing things by a combination of
circumstances, which one might never have done otherwise.«
    »Why, yes, a man can't very well steal a bank-note unless the bank-note lies
within convenient reach; but he won't make us think him an honest man because he
begins to howl at the bank-note for falling in his way.«
    »But