old age with a girl of eighteen, or else I do know a very accomplished,
well-brought-up girl; just eighteen, who--"

DARRELL.--"Re-enter life by the side of Eighteen! am I a madman?"

COLONEL MORLEY.--"Neither old maids nor young maids; the choice becomes
narrowed. You would prefer a widow. Ha! I have thought of one;
a prize, indeed, could you but win her, the widow of--"

DARRELL.--"Ephesus!--Bah! suggest no widow to me. A widow, with her
affections buried in the grave!"

MORLEY.--"Not necessarily. And in this case--"

DARRELL (interrupting, and with warmth).--"In every case I tell you: no
widow shall doff her weeds for me. Did she love the first man? Fickle
is the woman who can love twice. Did she not love him? Why did she
marry him? Perhaps she sold herself to a rent-roll? Shall she sell
herself again to me for a jointure? Heaven forbid! Talk not of widows.
No dainty so flavourless as a heart warmed up again."

COLONEL MORLEY.--"Neither maids, be they old or young, nor widows.
Possibly you want an angel. London is not the place for angels."

DARRELL.--"I grant that the choice seems involved in perplexity. How can
it be otherwise if one's self is perplexed? And yet, Alban, I am
serious; and I do not presume to be so exacting as my words have implied.
I ask not fortune, nor rank beyond gentle blood, nor youth nor beauty nor
accomplishments nor fashion, but I do ask one thing, and one thing only."