"Well," Mary began with provoking slowness, "I was thinking of heroic chances. A hero isn't a hero because he makes love well. The heroine tolerates his love-making because he's a hero. But somehow down here there's no chance to be up and doing. If it was only South America, now, and if there was a revolution brewing, and Dr. Eaton should save some of our lives, or get an army together and be elected president or king or whatever the people wanted to elect--why, then of course Miss Hale would admire him tremendously, and the novel would spin along like a top."