“I often want a friend to advise me--someone older, wiser, and better than I am.” “I can hardly flatter myself that you allude to me,” he said, surveying his wife with the gravest astonishment. “Yes, of course I do.” “To obtain your good opinion has always been my ambition; but I had no idea that I held such a high place in your esteem. You have quite taken my breath away.” “I wish you would not talk in this horribly satirical manner; it is not at all nice of you, Reginald--not a bit like what you used to be! What has changed you?” “I am not the least like what I used to be; in many respects I was a fool,” he replied with perfect equanimity. “Were you, really?” she said, stopping and looking at him with wide-open eyes. “What makes you say so? You are joking.” “All right! let us imagine that I am joking. You say you want a friend ready with counsel and advice. What more can you desire than Helen?” waving his hand towards the garden. “If you are fond of taking advice--of which ‘I hae me doots,’ as the Scotchman said--there is no one who loves imparting it better. It will be a mutual satisfaction for both parties.” “Now you are down on Helen’s little weakness; that’s rather a shame, you know. Of course I have Helen for a friend and adviser, but----” “Excuse me for interrupting you, but may I light a cigar? It has the same effect on me that music is popularly supposed to have on the savage.” “Go on, Alice,” he said, when he had lit up to his satisfaction; “you were telling me something very interesting just now about a friend. Why will not Helen meet all the requirements of the case?” he asked, with a mocking expression in his eyes. “Do be serious.” “Very well, I will,” he answered with sudden gravity. “You say you want an intimate, confidential, particular friend, and have done me the honour to offer me the post.” She nodded. “I beg to decline it in the most unqualified manner. I am your friend in the best sense of the word--I would cut off my right arm to serve you--but a friend at a distance, one that you will seldom hear of, much less see. The friendship of which you have visions is out of the question between us, and only possible between husband and wife. Be satisfied with your own arrangements; we are ward and guardian, nothing more. Do not be vexed with me for speaking plainly; you asked me to be serious, and I am serious. It seems to me that you do not know your own mind two consecutive hours, but I am not so changeable. You had everything in your hands the other day; it was a question of now or never. Two words would have bridged the gulf between us; you did not speak those two words, and now the occasion for them will never occur again--you let slip your last opportunity.” “I do not in the least understand you,” she faltered.