one hymn, hell thrice horrible with but one howl,
earth uninhabitable with but one evil. Oh, variety,
what a charm hast thou!"

"Is this, then, all your answer?" enquired the
female, sorrowfully.

"Is it not decisive?" he demanded sharply.
"Woman, away: am I not busy? Is not this the
very Passion week of preparation before the Easter
of the Assizes?" Then with an upward leer of his
eyes, that were now filled with frolicksome humour,
whilst at the corners of his mouth flickered a grim
smile, he continued: "Mona Macdonald, I am neither
selfish nor sensual, though women call me so; not
prone to be provoked to marriage; though Satan in
your shape has for so many years tempted me thereto,
I have still remained in the bachelors' Eden, in spite
of you and the Serpent. Marry you! Do I look in
the humour for mischief? Do I appear vile enough
to commit the unpardonable sin? No, a man may
put himself beyond the reach of mercy by other means
than that."

Mona looked up and sighed, and he continued:

"What more is marriage than mere desert sands,
in which life's current is lost until it reappears in a
parcel of bubbles called babies. What is it but the
fool's end, the knave's means; a warning to the wise,
a snare to the simple; the wantonness of youth, the
weakness of years; a pillory wherein to exercise
patience; what is it but the Church's stocks for the
wayward feet of women. Marry you! To marry is
to commit two souls to the prison of one body; to put
two pigs into one poke; two legs into one boot, two
arms into one sleeve, two heads into one hat, two

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p003 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p004w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p004a

v?