"Only that she is a nobody, without either money or position and I think
you ought to have both when you marry."

"Thanks for the implied compliment; but I do not fancy that an
Australian merchant can expect to secure a wife of very exalted
position; and I am the last man in the world to marry for money."

"I don't for a moment suppose you would marry any one you didn't like,
from mercenary considerations; but there is no reason you should make a
foolish match."

"Of course not. I think it very doubtful whether I shall ever marry at
all. I am just the kind of man to go down to my grave a bachelor."

"Why so, Gilbert?"

"Well, I can hardly tell you, my dear. Perhaps I am rather difficult to
please--just a little stony-hearted and invulnerable. I know that since I
was a boy, and got over my schoolboy love affairs, I have never seen the
woman who could touch my heart. I have met plenty of pretty women, and
plenty of brilliant women, of course, in society; and have admired them,
and there an end. I have never seen a woman whose face impressed me so
much at first sight as the face of your friend, Miss Nowell."

"I am very sorry for that."

"But why, Belle?"

"Because the girl is a nobody--less than nobody. There is an unpleasant