So there!" She smiled gravely.
"You are easily satisfied, Angus," she said--"But the world will not agree with you in your ideas of me.

And when you become a famous man----" "If I become a famous man----" he interrupted.
"No--not 'if'-- I say 'when,'" she repeated.

"When you become a famous man, people will say, 'what a pity he did not marry some one younger and more suited to his position----" She could speak no more, for Angus silenced her with a kiss.
"Yes, what a pity it will be!" he echoed.

"What a pity! When other men, less fortunate, see that I have won a beautiful and loving wife, whose heart is all my own,--who is pure and true as the sun in heaven,--'what a pity,' they will say, 'that we are not so lucky!' That's what the talk will be, Mary! For there's no man on earth who does not crave to be loved for himself alone--a selfish wish, perhaps--but it's implanted in every son of Adam.

And a man's life is always more or less spoilt by lack of the love he needs." She put her arms round his neck, and her true eyes looked straightly into his own.
"Your life will not be spoilt that way, dear!" she said.