single smile without speculation in it. Let them rot out, I say, and be
damned to them!"

"But he was such a goodly lad, Tony. Think of him as we knew him--and
now!"

"No, I'll _not_ think, Tom," broke in the officer, "for, when I do, then I
too get soft-hearted. And I'll waste no more feeling or faith on any of
'em--on any of 'em, save the only true man of the lot, who's had the wit
to put the ocean 'twixt him and them. And you're content here, Tom?"

"Oh, ay! Why not?" said Mr. Stewart. "It is a rude life in some ways, no
doubt, but it's free and it's honest. I have my own roof, such as it is,
and no one to gainsay me under it. I hunt, I fish, I work, I study, I
dream--precisely what pleases me best."

"Ay, but the loneliness of it!"

"Why, no! I see much of Johnson, and there are others round about to talk
with, when I'm driven to it. And then there's my young Dutchman--Douw,
yonder--who bears me company, and fits me so well that he's like a
second self."

The Major looked over toward my corner with a benevolent glance, but
without comment. Presently he said, while he took more meat upon
his plate:

"You've no thought of marrying, I suppose?"

"None!" said my patron, gravely and with emphasis.