a riding-whip, for he had ridden from the scene of the fire,
and was all begrimed with smoke and dirt. But this Arthur did not
notice.

"Hullo," he began; "what----" and then he hesitated; there was a look
in Arthur's eyes which he did not like.

But, if George hesitated, Arthur did not. He sprang at him like a wild
cat, and in a second had him by the throat and shoulder. For a moment
he held him there, for in his state of compressed fury George was like
a child in his hands. And as he held him a fierce and almost
uncontrollable desire took possession of him to kill this man, to
throw him down and stamp the life out of him. He conquered it,
however, and loosed the grip on his throat.

"Let me go," shrieked George, as soon as he could get breath.

Arthur cut short his clamours by again compressing his wind-pipe.

"Listen," he said; "a second ago I was very near killing you, but I
remember now that, after all, it is she, not you, who are chiefly to
blame. You only followed your brutal nature, and nothing else can be
expected of a brute. Very likely you put pressure on her, like the cad
that you are, but that does not excuse her, for, if she could not
resist pressure, she is a fool in addition to being what she is. I
look at you and think that soon _she_ will come down to _your_ level,
the level of my successful rival. To be mated to a man like you would
drag an angel down. That will be punishment enough. Now go, you cur!"

He swung him violently from him. His fall was broken by a bramble-
bush. It was not exactly a bed of roses, but George thought it safer
to lie there till his assailant's footsteps had grown faint--he did
not wish to bring him back again. Then he crept out of the bush
smarting all over. Indeed, his frame of mind was altogether not of the
most amiable. To begin with, he had just seen his house--which, as
luck would have it, was the only thing he had not sold to Philip, and
which was also at the moment uninsured, owing to the confusion arising
from the transfer of the property--entirely burnt down. All its
valuable contents too, including a fine collection of pictures and
private papers he by no means wished to lose, were irretrievably
destroyed.

Nor was his mood improved by the recollection of the events of the
previous night, or by the episode of the bramble-bush, illuminated as
it was by Arthur's vigorous language; or by what he had just
witnessed, for he had arrived in time to see, though from