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 She, this charming, intense creature, is so innocent, so 'un-woke-up', I might say."

"I am a holy terror at awakening one, and if there is any money with it I shall exert myself to arouse her."

There was an awkward silence. Frost paused and lighted a cigarette.

'Has she any plantations, stock farms, and the like? You seem so well up in her history."

"No, with the exception of a thousand dollars or so, she is absolutely without means."

"That settles it," said Frost, flippantly. "You and your John Alden may open negotiations for her beauty and innocence, but they are too tame for me."

"You are a fisherman, Frost, and if you can't catch a whale you catch a trout, and if you can't catch a trout you would whip in the shallows for the poor little minnows."

"Minnows have their use as bait," returned the other, with a meaning smile.

"But not to catch whales with, and you direct the training of my harpoon toward a big haul, yet you can stop to fish where you get but a nibble? What a peculiar adviser—rather inconsistent, don't you think?" observed Robert, with a cynical sense of amusement. "I shall keep an eye on you."