"And you don't think one incurs some kind of hoodoo--in indulging in
these things--I am thinking of Suzette--her shadow--almost one would say
projected by fate, is what is causing me trouble now, not any deliberate
action she is committing against me."
"Part of the price, my boy! You can't steal anything, or do anything
against the law, be it of man or of morals or of the spirit--that you
don't have to pay for it--and there is no use in haggling beforehand or
in squealing after. The thing is to learn early enough in life what is
worth while and what you really want, before you lay up for yourself
limitations."
"That is true--."
"Now let us analyse what gains and losses you have had in the Suzette
business. Let us take the gains first--You had a jolly little companion
during some months of pain and weariness--She helped you over a
difficult moment--You were not leading her astray. To be the friend of
war-heroes was her métier--you paid her highly in solid cash--You are
under no obligation to her--. But the law has decreed that man must have
no illicit relations, so the force of that current, or belief, or
whatever it is, makes you pay some price for having broken the
law--Accept it and get through with it--And if the price has been too
heavy decide not to incur such debts again. The whole bother occurs
because you don't look ahead, my boy! There was a case when I was a
youngster and just joined my Battalion of Guards which will illustrate
what I mean, of Bobby Bulteel, Hartelford's brother.--He cheated at
cards--He was a kind of cousin of my mother's so the family felt the
scandal awfully--He was kicked out of course, and utterly broke, and
Lady Hilda Marchant ran off with him, and left her husband. She adored
the fellow who had every charm--Well that was not worth while--The odds
are too heavy for anyone ever to have the ghost of a chance to pull
cheating off. He was simply a fool, you see. Take chances, but never
when the scales have gone beyond the angle of forty-five degrees!"--Then
having finished his cigar George rose in the best of tempers--.
"You may take it from me Nicholas--it sounds old fashioned--but to
behave like a gentleman and always be ready to discharge your
obligations, are the best rules for life.----Ta ta, dear boy--Shall
look in on you soon again--" and he went!
Of course his logic is unanswerable--So I had better accept the shadow
of Suzette falling upon my relation with Alathea, and try to gain my end
in spite of it--And what is my very end?