f,' cried Alec, shortly.

'By God, I'll make you answer.'

He went up to Alec furiously, as if he meant to seize him by the throat,
but Alec, with a twist of the arm, hurled him backwards.

'I could break your back, you silly boy,' he cried, in a voice low with
anger.

With a cry of rage Bobbie was about to spring at Alec when Dick got in
his way.

'For God's sake, let us have no scenes here. And you'll only get the
worst of it, Bobbie. Alec could just crumple you up.' He turned to the
two men who stood behind, startled by the unexpectedness of the
quarrel. 'Take him away, Mallins, there's a good chap.'

'Let me alone, you fool!' cried Bobbie.

'Come along, old man,' said Mallins, recovering himself.

When his two friends had got Bobbie out of the room, Dick heaved a great
sigh of relief.

'Poor Lady Kelsey!' he laughed, beginning to see the humour of the
situation. 'To-morrow half London will be saying that you and Bobbie had
a stand-up fight in her drawing-room.'

Alec looked at him angrily. He was not a man of easy temper, and the
effort he had put upon himself was beginning to tell.

'You really needn't have gone out of your way to infuriate the boy,'
said Dick.

Alec wheeled round wrathfully.

'The damned cubs,' he said. 'I should like to break their silly necks.'

'You have an amiable character, Alec,' retorted Dick.

Alec began to walk up and down excitedly. Dick had never seen him before
in such a state.

'The position is growing confoundedly awkward,' he said drily.

Then Alec burst out.

'They lick my boots till I loathe them, and then they turn against me
like a pack of curs. Oh, I despise them, these silly boys who stay at
home wallowing in their ease, while men work--work and conquer. Thank
God, I've done with them now. They think one can fight one's way through
Africa as easily as walk down Piccadilly. They think one goes through
hardship and danger, illness and starvation, to be the lion of a
dinner-party in Mayfair.'

'I think you're unfair to them,' answered Dick. 'Can't you see the other
side of the picture? You're accused of a particularly low act of
treachery. Your friends were hoping that you'd be able to prove at once
that it was an abominable lie, and for some reason which no one can make
out, you refuse even to notice it.'

'My whole life is proof that it's a lie.'

'Don't you think you'd better change your mind and make a statement that
can be sent to the papers?'