Page:The woman, the man, and the monster (IA womanmanmonster00dawe).pdf/254

 “Some of us have better luck than others.”

“Do we? I’ve never seen it yet.”

“Then you have not been lucky? That’s strange. All things used to go your way once.”

“Oh, I’ve been lucky enough; and as for things going my way—I made ’em, that’s the reason. You know, one can force destiny. The only thing is to know when to stop.”

“Which no man ever did.”

“One may stop too soon as well as too late.”

“Yet if you have been able to force destiny you surely have little cause of complaint?”

He looked Vermont up and down with a curiously penetrating glance.

“My dear fellow, there is a certain smug- ness about you which betrays the philistine ease of conscience. I can foresee a large family and a fat wife, and church at least once on Sun- days. Now, for me there is none of these joys, and curiously enough I should like to try them. As long as I could remember I have been more or less in hell, and at times I have found the company inexpressibly dull. Also, curiously enough, it is chiefly habitated by women. As you are doubtless aware, all the great lovers