She had once loved Vanne Castine! and now vanity and cowardice, or
unscrupulousness, made her lie about it. He would have her at her best
--a young, vigorous radiant nature--for his short life, and then, good-
bye, my lover, good-bye! Selfish? Of course. But she would rather--
she had said it--have him for the time he had to live than not at all.
Position? What was his position? Cast off by his family, forgotten by
his old friends, in debt, penniless--let position be hanged! Self-
preservation was the first law. What was the difference between this
girl and himself? Morals? She was better than himself, anyhow. She had
genuine passions, and her sins would be in behalf of those genuine
passions. He had kicked over the moral traces many a time from absolute
selfishness. She had clean blood in her veins, she was good-looking,
she had a quick wit, she was an excellent horse-woman--what then? If she
wasn't so "well bred," that was a matter of training and opportunity
which had never quite been hers. What was he himself? A loafer, "a
deuced unfortunate loafer," but still a loafer. He had no trade and no
profession. Confound it! how much better off, and how much better in
reality, were these people who had trades and occupations.
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