"
"The wood? Ah! do you mean where you--"
"Where I found her lying unconscious."
"Unconscious! And with him beside her! My God, man!" cried the
Viscount, with a vicious snap of his teeth. "Why didn't you kill him?"
"Because I was beside her--first, Dick."
"Damn him!" exclaimed the Viscount bitterly.
"But he is your friend, Dick."
"Was, Bev, was! We'll make it in the past tense hereafter."
"Then you agree with your father after all?"
"I do, Bev; my father is a cursed, long-sighted, devilish observant
man! I'll back him against anybody, though he is such a Roman. But oh,
the devil!" exclaimed the Viscount suddenly, "you can never ride in
the race after this."
"Why not?"
"Because you'll meet Carnaby; and that mustn't happen."
"Why not?"
"Because he'll shoot you."
"You mean he'd challenge me? Hum," said Barnabas, "that is awkward!
But I can't give up the race."
"Then what shall you do?"
"Risk it, Dick."
But now, Mr. Smivvle, who from an adjoining corner had been an
interested spectator thus far, emerged, and flourishing off the
curly-brimmed hat, bowed profoundly, and addressed himself to the
Viscount.
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