'I don't think I shall ever love--at least, not as other girls do.'

He leaned forward and took her hand; he caught her other hand, and the
movement expressed his belief in his power to make her love him.

'No,' she said, resisting him. 'You cannot. I'm as cold as ice.'

'Think what you're doing, Mildred. You're sacrificing a great love--
(no man will ever love you as I do)--and for a lot of stuff about
education that Mrs. Fargus has filled your head with. You're
sacrificing your life for that,' he said, pointing to the sketch that
had fallen on the grass. 'Is it worth it?'

She picked up the sketch.

'It was better before you came,' she said, examining it absent-
mindedly. 'I went on working at it; I've spoiled it.' Then, noticing
the incongruity, she added, 'But it doesn't matter. Art is not the
only thing in the world. There is good to be done if one only knew how
to do it. I don't mean charity, such goodness is only on the surface,
it is merely a short cut to the real true goodness. Art may be only
selfishness, indeed I'm inclined to think it is, but art is education,
not the best, perhaps, but the best within my reach.'

'Mildred, I really do not understand. You cannot be well, or you
wouldn't talk so.'

'I'm quite well,' she said. 'I hardly expected you would understand.
But I beg you to believe that I cannot act otherwise. My life is not