"I don't think you will find many women to love you on that basis,"
said Corydon.

"I never expected to find but one," was Thyrsis' reply; "and I may
not find even one."

She sat watching him for a moment. "I had never realized the
sublimity of your egotism," she said. "It would never occur to you
to judge anyone else by your own standards, would it?"

"That is very well put," laughed Thyrsis. "As a matter of fact, I
have a maxim that I count all things lost in the world but my own
soul."

"Why is that?"

"Because I can depend on my own soul; and I have not yet met
anything else in life of which I can say that."

Again there was a pause. "You are as hard as iron!" exclaimed the
girl.

"I am harder than anything you can find for your simile," he
answered. "I know simply that there is no force existing that can
turn me from my task."

"You might meet some woman who would fascinate you."

"Perhaps," he replied. "I have done things I'm ashamed of, and I've
a wholesome fear of doing more of them. But I know that that woman,