'And the youth of the modern aged is the opportunity of our sisters, the girls "on the make,"' said Merton. 'What a lot of old men of title are marrying young women as hard up as we are!' 'And then,' said Logan, 'the offspring of the deceased marchionesses make a fuss. In fact marriage is always the signal for a family row.' 'It is the infernal family row that I never could face. I had a chance--' Merton seemed likely to drop into autobiography. 'I know,' said Logan admonishingly. 'Well, hanged if I could take it, and she--she could not stand it either, and both of us--' 'Do not be elegiac,' interrupted Logan. 'I know. Still, I am rather sorry for people's people. The unruly affections simply poison the lives of parents and guardians, aye, and of the children too. The aged are now so hasty and imprudent. What would not Tala have given to prevent his Grace from marrying Mrs. Tankerville?' Merton leapt to his feet and smote his brow. 'Wait, don't speak to me--a great thought flushes all my brain. Hush! I have it,' and he sat down again, pouring seltzer water into a half empty glass. 'Have what?' asked Logan. 'The Felt Want. But the accomplices?' 'But the advertisements!' suggested Logan. 'A few pounds will cover _them_. I can sell my books,' Merton sighed. 'A lot of advertising your first editions will pay for. Why, even to launch a hair-restorer takes--' 'Oh, but,' Merton broke in, '_this_ want is so widely felt, acutely felt too: hair is not in it. But where are the accomplices?' 'If it is gentleman burglars I am not concerned. No Raffles for me! If it is venal physicians to kill off rich relations, the lives of the Logans are sacred to me.' 'Bosh!' said Merton, 'I want "lady friends," as Tennyson says: nice girls, well born, well bred, trying to support themselves.' 'What do you want _them_ for? To support them?' 'I want them as accomplices,' said Merton. 'As collaborators.' 'Blackmail?' asked Logan. 'Has it come to this? I draw the line at blackmail. Besides, they would starve first, good girls would; or marry Lord Methusalem, or a beastly South African _richard_.' 'Robert Logan of Restalrig, that should be'--Merton spoke impressively--'you know me to be incapable of practices, however lucrative, which involve taint of crime. I do not prey upon the society which I propose to benefit. But where are the girls?'