They made him more than
usually thoughtful; they chimed in with his momentary mood of
self-analysis.
One thing was dead certain. To circumnavigate the globe in the arms of
a dozen chorus-girls was not his ideal. He was not built on those
lines. He purposed, God Willing, to spend the evening of his days in
another and more respectable manner. A vision arose before his
imagination--a vision of a peaceful homestead among the green lanes of
England, where he would lead a life of study and of kindly,
unostentatious acts, with family and friends; old friends of College
days, and London days, and African days; new friends from among the
rising generation--straightforward and decent-minded youngsters, whom he
would take to his heart like a father.
Why could not van Koppen see the beauty of such dreamings?
And yet, he argued, if the man does seclude them in this
fashion--supposing they really exist--who can blame him? No woman is safe
on Nepenthe with persons like Muhlen about. From chance meetings in the
street, from stray conversations overheard, he had been led to take an
unreasoning dislike to this foreigner, whose attitude towards the
gentle sex struck him as that of a cur.
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