That good Lance; it seemed to me quite impossible that he could speak
even these words without bringing in Frances; but how bright and happy
he looked! I envied him.

"Do as I have done, John," he said "Marry. Believe me, no man knows what
happiness means until he does marry."

"You must find me a wife just like your own," I said, and the words came
back to me afterward with a fervent prayer of "Heaven forbid!--may
Heaven forbid!"

"I shall never marry now, Lance," I said. "The only woman I could ever
love is dead to me."

He looked at me very earnestly.

"I wish you would forget all about her, John. She was not worthy of
you."

"Perhaps not," I replied; "but that does not interfere with the love."

"Why should you give all that loving heart of yours to one woman, John?"
he said. "If one fails, try another."

"If your Frances died, should you love another woman?" I asked.

"That is quite another thing," he said, and I saw in his heart he
resented the fact that I should place the woman who had been faithless
to me on an equality with his wife. Poor Lance!