d passion, though the object of it can't, in the first blush of the
affair be altogether _persona grata_ to myself. But, to show that
really I have a little root of magnanimity in me, I am quite prepared
to undertake a winter at Cairo, plus Evelyn Tobemory and minus low
dresses, if that will enable you to stay on here--I mean in
England,--of course."

He pursed up his beautiful mouth, he carried his head on one side with
the liveliest effect of provocation, as he held the young lady's hand
while bidding her farewell.

"Out of my heart I hope you will be very happy," he said.

"I shall never be anything but Honoria St. Quentin," she answered
rather hastily. Then she softened, forgiving him.--"Oh! why," she said,
"why will you make me quarrel with you just now, just at the last?"

"Because--because--" Mr. Quayle's voice broke, though his superior
smile remained to him.--"I think I will not prolong the interview," he
said. "To be frank with you, dear Miss St. Quentin, I am about as
miserable as is consonant with complete sanity and excellent health. I
do not propose to blow my brains out, but I think--yes, thanks--you
appreciate the desirability of that course of action too?--I think it
is about time I went."

CHAPTER X

CONCERNING A DAY OF HONEST WARFARE AND A SUNSET HARBINGER NOT OF THE
NIGHT BUT OF THE DAWN

That episode, upon the bridge spanning the Long Water, brought Richard
would-be saint, Richard pilgrim along the great white road which leads
onward to Perfection, into lively collision with Richard the natural
man, not to mention Richard the "wild bull in a net." These opposing
forces engaged battle, with the consequence that the carriage horses
took the hill at a rather breakneck pace. Not that Dickie touched them,
but that, he being vibrant, they felt his mood down the length of the
reins and responded to it.

"Ludovic need hardly have been in such a prodigious hurry," he broke
out. "He might have allowed one a few days' grace. It was a defect of
taste to come over immediately--but then all that family's taste is
liable to lapses."

Promptly he repented, ashamed both of his anger and such self-revealing
expression of it.

"I dare say it's all for the best though. Better a thing should be
nipped in the bud than in the blossom. And this puts it all on a right
footing. One might easily drift into depending too much upon Honoria. I
own I was dangerously near doing that this spring. I don't mind t