"Well--there were a many reproachful dream-faces, and every one of them said to me:--'See what you have made of my life that might have been so happy. See how you have con ...'" Gwen had very nearly said _condemned_, but stopped in time. She could not refer to the demands of an eyeless mate for constant help in little things, and all the irksomeness of a home. Adrian, pretending not to hear "con," spoke at once. "But did none of these charming girls--I'm sure I should have loved heaps of them--did none of them remind you that they were hypothetical?" "Dear Mr. Torrens, I can't tell you how good and brave you seem to me for laughing so much, and turning everything to a joke. But I _was_ in earnest." "So was I." "_Then_ I did not understand." "What did you think I meant?" "I thought you were playing fast and loose with the nonsense about the hypothesis. I did indeed." "Well, I was serious underneath. Listen, and I'll tell you. This _fiancee_ of mine that you seem so cocksure about has no existence. I give you my honour that it is so, and that I am glad of it.... Yes--glad of it! How could I bear to think I was inflicting myself on a woman I loved, and making her life a misery to her?" Gwen thought of beginning:--"If she loved you," and giving a little sketch of a perfect wife under the circumstances. It never saw the light, owing to a recrudescence of Marcus Curtius, who stood to win nothing by his venture--was certainly not in love with Erebus. An act of pure self-sacrifice on principle! Nothing could be farther from her thoughts, be so good as to observe, than that she _loved_ this man! He went on uninterrupted:--"No, indeed I am heartily glad of it. It would be a terrible embarrassment at the best. I should want to let her off, and she would feel in honour bound to hold on, and really of all the things I can't abide self-sacrifice is.... Well, Lady Gwendolen, only consider the feelings of the chap on the altar! Hasn't he a right to a little unselfishness for his own personal satisfaction?" This was a sad wet blanket for Marcus Curtius.