Mr. Tyrrel had had an opportunity for pause, and fell back into his
habitual character.

"Well, sir, in all this I must own there is some frankness. Now I will
return you like for like. It is no matter how I came by it, my temper is
rough, and will not be controlled. Mayhap you may think it is a
weakness, but I do not desire to see it altered. Till you came, I found
myself very well: I liked my neighbours, and my neighbours humoured me.
But now the case is entirely altered; and, as long as I cannot stir
abroad without meeting with some mortification in which you are directly
or remotely concerned, I am determined to hate you. Now, sir, if you
will only go out of the county or the kingdom, to the devil if you
please, so as I may never hear of you any more, I will promise never to
quarrel with you as long as I live. Your rhymes and your rebusses, your
quirks and your conundrums, may then be every thing that is grand for
what I care."

"Mr. Tyrrel, be reasonable! Might not I as well desire you to leave the
county, as you desire me? I come to you, not as to a master, but an
equal. In the society of men we must have something to endure, as well
as to enjoy. No man must think that the world was made for him. Let us
take things as we find them; and accommodate ourselves as we can to
unavoidable circumstances."

"True, sir; all this is fine talking. But I return to my text: we are as
God made us. I am neither a philosopher nor a poet, to set out upon a
wild-goose chase of making myself a different man from what you find me.
As for consequences, what must be must be. As we brew we must bake. And
so, do you see? I shall not trouble myself about what is to be, but
stand up to it with a stout heart when it comes. Only this I can tell
you, that as long as I find you thrust into my dish every day I shall
hate you as bad as senna and valerian. And damn me, if I do not think I
hate you the more for coming to-day in this pragmatical way, when nobody
sent for you, on purpose to show how much wiser you are than all the
world besides."

"Mr. Tyrrel, I have done. I foresaw consequences, and came as a friend.
I had hoped that, by mutual explanation, we should have come to a better
understanding. I am disappointed; but, perhaps, when you coolly reflect
on what has passed, you will give me credit for my intentions, and think
that my proposal was not an unreasonable one."

Having said this, Mr. Falkland departed. Through the interview