back to your vomit you go.'

"'I am going to marry Miss Denistoun,' he repeated dully.
'I felt sure it would interest you to know.' He was losing grip.

"'Oh, yes,' said I. 'Whistle your dog, and let's get out of this
for a walk by the river. . . . There's too many of us in this
room, and we're all too cheap. . . . Damn it! I believe I could
forgive you for anything but for lowering our hate to _this_!'"

"We went out past the sentry, and walked down by the sullen
river's edge, the dog padding behind us.

"'You have been provocative,' said Farrell, after a while,
checking himself by an afterthought in the act of clearing his
throat. 'Considering our relative positions, I am rather
surprised at your daring to take this line. . . . But you used a
word just now. It was 'forgive.' I came not only to say that I
am going to marry Miss Denistoun, but to propose that henceforth
the account is closed between us. You must tell yourself that I
have won; and, having won, I bear no further malice. I would
even make some reparation on the shrine of my affection for Miss
Denistoun. She would esteem it, I feel sure, as a tribute.
. . . Dear me, how fast we are walking! . . . You'll excuse me
if I stop and take off this coat. . . . In the old days, as a
working-man, more than half my time I walked without a coat, and
an overcoat to this day always sets up a perspiration. . . .
Well now, shall we shake hands at the end of it all and cry
quits? . . . Say the word, and I'll go one better. They've
formed the syndicate for that island of ours. What do you say
to a thousand shares, and to coming in on the Board?'

"He was on the river side of me, quite close to the brink. I had
been playing for some minutes with the knife in my pocket; and
as I leapt on him and drove it in over the breast, he fell
straight backwards. All the end of Farrell was a gasp, a sharp
cry, and a splash.

"And both cry and splash were drowned instantly by the raging
yelp of the dog as he sprang for me. I fisted him off by his
throat and he fastened his teeth in my right hand, tearing the
flesh down as I slipped the knife into my left hand. Then with
my left I jabbed sideways under his ribs, and his bite relaxed,
and he dropped.

"The embankment was steep. I ran do