and if you like me a little you must forget all about it. I'm no good, and I'm going—good-by,' and a string of lies like that, and then go. Yes, that will be kindest in the long run. And the rest! I couldn't forget, but somehow—somehow there must be uses for a maimed man and things for him to do. There is the friendly old sea, and deserts and forests, and places other people can't get to. I'll go to those, and write about 'em, and live clean and not forget' and be as faithful to her as if she belonged to me, and endure and know that I have done right.
"That's about the selfishest line of thought I've ever had," he said. "If she cares for me—and she does—and I care for her, why, there is nothing else in God's world that counts—family, position, money—lack of family, lack of position, lack of money! By George, I'll be the head of a new family! I've nothing to be ashamed of, and I'll hold my head as high as a mast' and so shall my sons and their sons after them. Go back far enough, and there's a nobody in the pedi-
