Indeed, had John been a younger man of less experience, he would have succumbed to the temptation much sooner than he did.

But he was neither very young nor very inexperienced.

Ten years or more ago, in his green and gushing youth, as has been said, he had burnt his fingers to the bone, and a lively recollection of this incident in his career heretofore had proved a very efficient warning.

Also, he had reached that period of life when men think a great many times before they commit themselves wildly to the deep matrimonial waters.

At three-and-twenty, for the sake of a pretty face, most of us are willing to undertake the serious and in many cases overwhelming burdens, risks, and cares of family life, and the responsibility of the parentage of a large and healthy brood, but at three-and-thirty we take a different view of the matter.