"I think people get sick of each other, Doug! Why, I think a lot more of you, since you've been away for a few months. And I get tired of my own mother, bless her dear old heart, and I love her to death. But she's my mother and I can't stop loving her. But I certainly couldn't stand a man around the house, year after year. No marriage for me! No, sir!" "But what will you do about love?" asked Douglas. Judith's burning eyes grew soft. "Cherish it," she answered in a low voice. "Keep it forever. Never murder it by marriage. It's the most wonderful thing that comes into human life." Douglas smiled sadly. "You talk as if you were a thousand years old, Judith, on the one hand and like a baby on the other. What will you do, marry without love? Somehow the children have got to be cared for by responsible parties." "Responsible parties!" Jude was derisive. "Do you call Dad a responsible party?" "He's fed and clothed us." "What does that amount to?" said Judith largely. "An orphan asylum would do that. The kind of parents kids need are the ones that will answer your questions. I mean the real questions. The ones we don't dare to ask." "About life and sex and all those things!" Doug nodded understandingly. There was silence, then Doug shook his head. "I don't know how things would go along without marriage. Just you wait until you fall in love and see how you feel. You'll want to marry just like all the rest of us." "Never! I'm with Inez on that!" "Inez!" "Yes, Inez! She's got more sense about living than all the women in this valley put together. And she knows life." Douglas sighed. "What are some of Inez' ideas about marriage?" "Well, she just says it won't do! She says that the children have got to be taken care of but that it isn't fair to put the curse of marriage on parents. And she says her way isn't the answer, either, but that anyhow it's honest, which is a darn sight more than a lot of marriages in Lost Chief." Judith paused to take breath and Douglas asked, "Say, now listen, Jude, was Inez ever in love?" "She says she's in love right now but she won't say who he is." "I don't believe she knows what love is! Her ideas aren't worth anything. I've lost faith in these folks that tell you they know life. They're exactly like the rest of us under their skins. I'm getting to believe that we all get happiness in the same way and over mighty few things. Loving and having children, that's about all." "Inez says it's nothing of the kind; that the only way to be happy is to know what is beautiful when you see it." "I suppose that's smart," said Douglas crossly, "but I haven't any idea what it means." "I know what it means; but you never will until you can ride across Fire Mesa with your heart aching because it's so beautiful."