Shoot them, the poor devils, drown them, exterminate them, if you will, in the interest of public morality; it may be morality would gain--I dare say it would! But if you suffer them to live, let them live on their own terms and according to their own inexorable needs!" Rowland burst out laughing.

"I have no wish whatever either to shoot you or to drown you!" he said.

"Why launch such a tirade against a warning offered you altogether in the interest of your freest development?
Do you really mean that you have an inexorable need of embarking on a flirtation with Miss Light ?--a flirtation as to the felicity of which there may be differences of opinion, but which cannot at best, under the circumstances, be called innocent.

Your last summer's adventures were more so! As for the terms on which you are to live, I had an idea you had arranged them otherwise!" "I have arranged nothing--thank God! I don't pretend to arrange.

I am young and ardent and inquisitive, and I admire Miss Light.