does the thing strike you?"

"Why, disagreeably enough; that's a matter of course."

"You don't excuse her?" asked Norbert, his eyes fixed on the other.

"I can imagine excuses--"

"What? What excuse can there be for deliberate hypocrisy,
treachery?"

"If it _was_ deliberate," replied Warburton, "there's nothing to be
said. In your position--since you ask advice--I should try to
think that it wasn't, but that the girl had simply changed her mind,
and went on and on, struggling with herself till she could stand it
no longer. I've no taste for melodrama quiet comedy is much more in
my line--comedy ending with mutual tolerance and forgiveness. To
be sure, if you feel you can't live without her, if you're
determined to fight for her--"

"Fight with whom?" cried Franks.

"With _her_; then read Browning, and blaze away. It may be the best;
who can tell? Only--on this point I am clear--no self-deception!
Don't go in for heroics just because they seem fine. Settle with
yourself whether she is indispensable to you or not.--
Indispensable? why, no woman is that to any man; sooner or later,
it's a matter of indifference. And if you feel, talking plainly with
yourself, that the worst is over already, that it doesn't after all
matter as much as you thought; why, get back to your painting. If