"Do as you would at home. I shall send word to Will Somers that you
and I sup there to-morrow. You forgive me for letting out your
secret. All straightforward now and henceforth. You come to their
hearth as a friend, who will grow dearer to them both every year. Ah,
Tom, this love for woman seems to me a very wonderful thing. It may
sink a man into such deeps of evil, and lift a man into such heights
of good."

"I don't know as to the good," said Tom, mournfully, and laying aside
his cigar.

"Go on smoking: I should like to keep you company; can you spare me
one of your cigars?"

Tom offered his case. Kenelm extracted a cigar, lighted it, drew a
few whiffs, and, when he saw that Tom had resumed his own cigar,
recommenced conversation.

"You don't know as to the good; but tell me honestly, do you think if
you had not loved Jessie Wiles, you would be as good a man as you are
now?"

"If I am better than I was, it is not because of my love for the
girl."

"What then?"

"The loss of her."