Kilmeny of the Orchard | Page 4

for the sake of her outward favour and make yourself
miserable for life. When you pick you a wife please remember that I
shall reserve the right to pass a candid opinion on her."
"Pass all the opinions you like, but it is MY opinion, and mine only,
which will matter in the long run," retorted Eric.
"Confound you, yes, you stubborn offshoot of a stubborn breed,"
growled David, looking at him affectionately. "I know that, and that is

why I'll never feel at ease about you until I see you married to the right
sort of a girl. She's not hard to find. Nine out of ten girls in this country
of ours are fit for kings' palaces. But the tenth always has to be
reckoned with."
"You are as bad as Clever Alice in the fairy tale who worried over the
future of her unborn children," protested Eric.
"Clever Alice has been very unjustly laughed at," said David gravely.
"We doctors know that. Perhaps she overdid the worrying business a
little, but she was perfectly right in principle. If people worried a little
more about their unborn children--at least, to the extent of providing a
proper heritage, physically, mentally, and morally, for them--and then
stopped worrying about them after they ARE born, this world would be
a very much pleasanter place to live in, and the human race would
make more progress in a generation than it has done in recorded
history."
"Oh, if you are going to mount your dearly beloved hobby of heredity I
am not going to argue with you, David, man. But as for the matter of
urging me to hasten and marry me a wife, why don't you"--It was on
Eric's lips to say, "Why don't you get married to a girl of the right sort
yourself and set me a good example?" But he checked himself. He
knew that there was an old sorrow in David Baker's life which was not
to be unduly jarred by the jests even of privileged friendship. He
changed his question to, "Why don't you leave this on the knees of the
gods where it properly belongs? I thought you were a firm believer in
predestination, David."
"Well, so I am, to a certain extent," said David cautiously. "I believe, as
an excellent old aunt of mine used to say, that what is to be will be and
what isn't to be happens sometimes. And it is precisely such unchancy
happenings that make the scheme of things go wrong. I dare say you
think me an old fogy, Eric; but I know something more of the world
than you do, and I believe, with Tennyson's _Arthur_, that 'there's no
more subtle master under heaven than is the maiden passion for a
maid.' I want to see you safely anchored to the love of some good
woman as soon as may be, that's all. I'm rather sorry Miss Campion
isn't your lady of the future. I liked her looks, that I did. She is good
and strong and true--and has the eyes of a woman who could love in a
way that would be worth while. Moreover, she's well-born, well-bred,

and well-educated--three very indispensable things when it comes to
choosing a woman to fill your mother's place, friend of mine!"
"I agree with you," said Eric carelessly. "I could not marry any woman
who did not fulfill those conditions. But, as I have said, I am not in love
with Agnes Campion--and it wouldn't be of any use if I were. She is as
good as engaged to Larry West. You remember West?"
"That thin, leggy fellow you chummed with so much your first two
years in Queenslea? Yes, what has become of him?"
"He had to drop out after his second year for financial reasons. He is
working his own way through college, you know. For the past two
years he has been teaching school in some out-of-the-way place over in
Prince Edward Island. He isn't any too well, poor fellow--never was
very strong and has studied remorselessly. I haven't heard from him
since February. He said then that he was afraid he wasn't going to be
able to stick it out till the end of the school year. I hope Larry won't
break down. He is a fine fellow and worthy even of Agnes Campion.
Well, here we are. Coming in, David?"
"Not this afternoon--haven't got time. I must mosey up to the North
End to see a man who has got a lovely throat. Nobody can find out
what is the matter. He has puzzled all the doctors. He has puzzled me,
but I'll find out what is wrong with him if he'll only live long enough."



CHAPTER II
. A LETTER OF DESTINY