Adams readily agreed; and a little later, as they sat opposite each other at table, he showed, as usual, a sincere enough enjoyment of his companion’s society.  Though he had never taken Kemper as he said, “quite seriously,” there were few men whom he found it pleasanter to meet at dinner.

“I wish you came more in my way,” he observed, while Kemper gave the order, with the absorbed attention he devoted to such details, “I don’t believe I’ve laid eyes on you but once in the last six months.”

“Oh, you’ve something better to think of,” returned Kemper carelessly.  “Do you know,” he pursued after a moment’s thought, “I’m sometimes tempted to wish that I could change place with you and get beaten into shape for some serious work.  It’s the only thing in life that counts, when you come to think of it,” he concluded with an irritation directed less against himself than against his fate.

“Well, I can’t say I’d object to standing in your shoes for a while,” rejoined Adams, “I’ve a taste for the particular brand of cigar you smoke.”

“Oh, they’re good enough—­in fact everything is good enough—­it comes too easily, that’s the trouble.  I’ve never found anything yet that was seriously worth trying for.”

Adams regarded him for a moment with a smile, to which his whimsical humour lent a peculiar attraction.

“I, on the other hand, have tried pretty hard for some things I didn’t get,” he answered, “the difference between us, I guess, is that I had a tough time in my youth and you didn’t.  A man’s middle age is usually a reaction from his youth.”

“I’ve never had a tough time anywhere,” replied Kemper, almost in disgust, “it’s’ been too soft—­that’s the deuced part of it.  And yet I’ve got the stuff in me for a good fight if the opportunity would only come my way.”

The expression of satiety—­of moral weariness—­was etched indelibly beneath the brightness of his smile; and yet, Adams, looking at him, remembered, a little bitterly, that this man had won from him the woman whom he loved.  To Kemper belonged both her body and her spirit; the touch of her hand no less than the charm of her intellect!  At the thought his old human longing for her awoke and stirred restlessly again in his heart.

“Yes, the only thing is to have one particular interest,” resumed Kemper, “to occupy oneself with something that is eternally worth while.  Now, look at Barclay—­I went up in the train with him to the Adirondacks, and, upon my word, I never envied a man more in my whole life.  You know Barclay, don’t you?”

Adams nodded.  “I’d find a little of his financial ability rather useful myself,” he observed.  Then he broke into a boyish laugh at a recollection the name aroused, “the last time I had a talk with him was at the beginning of our war with Spain, and he told me he was interested in news from the front because he happened to own some Spanish bonds.”

Kemper joined in the laugh.  “Oh, he’s narrow, of course,” he replied, “but all the same I’d like the chance to get in his place.  By Jove, I don’t believe he’s ever bored a minute of the day!” And it seemed to him, as he thought of Barclay, that his own life held nothing for him but boredom from this time on.