Man and Maid

"No, I can't imagine the bliss of that, Nina--."

She looked at me suddenly--.

"Well, why don't you marry then, dear boy?"

"I would, if I thought I could secure bliss--but you forget, it would be

from pity and not love that a woman would be kind to me."

"I am--not quite sure of that, Nicholas"--and she looked at me

searchingly--"You are changed since last time--you are not so bitter and

sardonic--and you, always have that--oh! you know what Elinor Glyn

writes of in her books--that "it."--Some kind of attraction that has no

name--but I am sure has a lot to do with love--."

"So you think I have got 'it,' Nina?"

"Yes, your clothes fit so well--and you say rather whimsical

things--Yes, decidedly, Nicholas, now that you are not so bitter--I am

sure--."

"What a pity you did not find that out before you took Jim, Nina!"

"Oh! Jim! that is different--You have much more brain than Jim, and

would not have been nearly so easy to live with!"

"Is it going well, Nina?"

"Yes--perfectly--that is why I came to Paris alone--I knew it would be

good for him--besides I wanted a rest, Nicholas."

"I thought you had married for a rest!"

"Well, if a man 'in love' is what you really want,--and not his just

'loving' you--you have to use your wits; it can't be a rest, not if he

has made you care too.--When I was just tossing up between Jim and

Rochester, then I had not to bother about how I behaved to them. You see

I was the, as yet, unattained desired thing--but having accepted one of

them, he has time to think of things, not having to fight to get me, and

so I have to keep him thinking of things which have still speculation in

them--don't you see?"

"You have to keep the hunting instinct alive, in fact."

"Yes--"

"You don't think it would be possible to find someone who was just one's

mate so that no game of any sort would be necessary?"

She thought hard for a moment.

"That, of course, would be heaven--" then she sighed--"I am afraid it is

no use in hoping for that, Nicholas!"

"Someone who would understand so well that silence was eloquent--someone

who would read books with one, and think thoughts with one. Someone who

would lie in one's arms and respond to caresses--and not be counting the

dollars--or--doing her knitting--. Someone who was tender and kind and

true--Oh! Nina!"