"Besides," said I, "as my health grows worse my jokes will deteriorate, until I am reduced to grinning through a horse-collar at the doctor.

And you couldn't stand that, could you ?" She upbraided me gently for treating everything as a jest.
"It isn't that you want to get rid of me, Simon ?" she asked tearfully, but with an attempt at a smile.
I took both hands and looked into her eyes--they are brave, truthful eyes--and through my heart shot a great pain.

Till that moment I had not realised what I was giving up.

The pleasant paths of the world--I could leave them behind with a shrug.

Political ambition, power, I could justly estimate their value and could let them pass into other hands without regret.