prospects? I may become head-accountant. If Dinton died--and I hope
he won't, for he is an excellent fellow--I should probably get his
berth. Beyond that I have no career. I have some aspirations after
literature--a few critical articles in the monthlies--but I don't
suppose they will ever lead to anything of consequence.

And my income, 400 pounds a year with a commission on business I
introduce. But that amounts to hardly anything. You have 50 pounds.
Our total, then, is certainly under 500 pounds. Have you considered
what it will mean to leave that charming house at St. Albans--the
breakfast-room, the billiard-room, the lawn--and to live in the
little 50 pounds a year house at Woking, with its two sitting-rooms
and pokey garden? Have I a right to ask you to do such a thing? And
then the housekeeping, the planning, the arranging, the curtailing,
the keeping up appearances upon a limited income. I have made myself
miserable, because I feel that you are marrying me without a
suspicion of the long weary uphill struggle which lies before you. O
Maude, my darling Maude, I feel that you sacrifice too much for me!
If I were a man I should say to you, 'Forget me--forget it all! Let
our relations be a closed chapter in your life. You can do better.
I and my cares come like a great cloud-bank to keep the sunshine from
your young life. You who are so tender and dainty! How can I bear
to see you exposed to the drudgery and sordid everlasting cares of
such a household! I think of your graces, your pretty little ways,
the elegancies of your life, and how charmingly you carry them off.
You are born and bred for just such an atmosphere as the one which
you breathe. And I take advantage of my good-fortune in winning your
love to drag you down, to take the beauty and charm from your life,
to fill it with small and vulgar cares, never-ending and soul-
killing. Selfish beast that I am, why should I allow you to come