as so
apparent in the older man was wholly absent in him. He moved his long
limbs with a loose swing that lacked energy though it seemed to denote a
certain restlessness.

"Wonder what you'll do without me here when I go to Charlie," he
remarked, as Jake did not immediately speak.

"I should say the sooner you go the better," said Jake rather brutally,
"if I were only sure you were going to the right place."

"Have a smoke!" said Bunny with unruffled amiability, proffering his
case.

Jake pushed it from him with a curt sound of dissatisfaction.

"All right. Don't!" said Bunny, with instant haughtiness, and returned it
to his pocket.

He would have withdrawn his hand from his brother-in-law's arm, but Jake
retained it there forcibly, steering for his own private office at the
end of the stable-yard.

Bunny submitted, but his face grew ominously dark as they passed in
silence between the long rows of loose-boxes in the soft spring twilight.
As they neared Jake's room he drew himself together with the action of a
man who braces his muscles for a sudden strain, and in a moment he was
older, less defiant, more dignified.

"That's better," Jake said, making him enter first. "There are times, Sir
Bernard Brian, when I want to lick you, as you never--unfortunately--were
licked in your early youth. Other times--like the present--when the breed
gets the better of me, and I can only stand outside--and admire."

"Oh, don't be a blithering idiot, Jake!" said Bunny in hot discomfiture.
Jake's hand grasped his shoulder. "Sit down, and bring yourself to my
level for a minute! Maybe I am a blithering idiot, maybe I'm not. But I
could take you by the heels and dip you in the horse-pond round the
corner if I felt that way. So you'd better keep as civil as possible. It
won't make a mite of difference to me, but it may to you."

Bunny sat down, breathing hard. His cigarette fell to the ground and he
stooped for it, but Jake, still holding his shoulder, stooped also,
picked it up and flung it straight out of the window.

"You smoke too many of 'em," he said, as he did it.

"Damn you!" said Bunny in a voice of concentrated fury.

He would have sprung to his feet, but Jake's hands were upon him like
iron clamps and kept him seated.

He spoke, his voice soft, unhurried, even humorous. "I'm only a beastly
groom, you know, Bunny. You don't expect good manners from me, do you?"

Bunny shrank a little, as if something in the words