"Joy! There's precious little joy in life that I can see," Lawless replied, and rose, scraping his chair noisily upon the carpetless floor. The little man looked at him earnestly. "I am not a philosopher," he said, "nor have I over much learning--just enough for the exercise of my profession, and no more. But I can tell you the reason you find no joy in life; it is because you don't know where to look for it. Joy lies in ourselves." Lawless laughed shortly. "I'm not a likely sort of subject to harbour joy," he returned. "Why not?" the other said quite simply... "You shut the door in her face, my friend, or she would find her way in fast enough. Give her a chance." He took up his hat, and lighted his old meerschaum pipe before going out. "On a day like this," he said, "it makes a man joyful merely to feel he is alive." It was a great pleasure to the schoolmaster to walk along beside his tall companion and point out to him the many beauties of the place, beauties which alone Lawless would assuredly have overlooked. A lizard, peeping with bright eyes between the stones of a piece of broken wall, caught the little man's attention. As they approached it darted into a crack and disappeared. The schoolmaster pointed to it like an eager boy who discovers something rare. Despite his boredom at such trifles, Lawless was faintly amused. A wild flower, a humming-bird, a large green butterfly, each in turn excited interest, and called forth admiration and comment. The man was a botanist, and spoke learnedly of the flora of the neighbourhood. The wild flowers of the Cape have yet to be properly classified; many of them are unnamed; they are simply "bloemetjes." The schoolmaster had named many of them to please himself. He picked a beautiful pure white bloom from the veld, and gave it to Lawless to admire. "It is so flawless, so pure," he said. "I call that my Flower of Innocence. The veld is full of them. But they are scentless. One day someone will take it, perhaps, and cultivate it and give it a scent. But I like it best as nature has made it. To me it is perfect." Lawless placed it in his buttonhole, not that he cared for wearing flowers, but because--why he did not know--it pleased him to give pleasure to this simple-minded man. The schoolmaster introduced his friend to his pupils, a proceeding that was fraught with embarrassment to both sides. Never in his life before had Lawless felt so great a fool. He was glad to make his escape.