Page:The Yellow Book - 05.djvu/37

Rh "No? But confound it," I cried, out of patience, "there are only these two alternatives in every case of this kind." "My dear Jack," said Basil, after a few moments' contemplation of me, "you have confounded it yourself. You are confusing act with motive. It is true there are only two possible replies to the question I asked Miss Selden; but the series of alternating motives for either answer is infinite." "Infinite?" echoed I, aghast. "Yes," said Basil, dreamily. "It is obviously infinite, though the human faculties in their present stage of development can only follow a few steps of it. Would you really care to know," he continued kindly, after a pause, "the way in which I arrived at my conclusion?" "I should like it of all things," I said. "Then you had better just take a pencil and a sheet of paper," said Basil. "You will excuse the suggestion, but to any one unfamiliar with these trains of thought some aid of the kind is positively necessary. Now, then, let us begin with the simplest case, that of a girl of selfish instincts and blunt sensibilities, who looks out for as good a match, from the pecuniary point of view, as she can make, and doesn't very much care to conceal the fact." ("Eleanor down to the ground," I thought to myself.) "She would have said Yes to my question, wouldn't she?" "No doubt." "Very well, then, kindly mark that Case A."

I did so.

"Next, we come to a girl of a somewhat higher type, not perhaps indifferent to pecuniary considerations, but still too proud to endure the suspicion of having acted upon them in the matter of marriage. She would answer No, wouldn't she?"

Rh