"
"Sir, may I ask you a question?"
"Oh, yes--if you wish," sighed Barnabas, wearily.
"Are you leaving London, sir?"
"I'm leaving the World of Fashion--yes."
"And you--don't wish me to accompany you, sir."
"No."
"Have I--displeased you in any way?"
"No, it is only that the 'best valet in the world' would be wasted
on me any longer, and I shall not need you where I am going."
"Not as a--servant, sir?"
"No."
"Then, sir, may I remind you that I am also a--man? A man who owes
all that he is to your generosity and noble trust and faith. And, sir,
it seems to me that a man may sometimes venture where a servant may
not--if you are indeed done with the Fashionable World, I have done
with it also, for I shall never serve any other than you."
Then Barnabas turned away and coming to the mantel leaned there,
staring blankly down at the empty hearth; and in a while he spoke,
though without looking up:
"The Fashionable World has turned its polite back upon me, Peterby,
because I am only the son of a village inn-keeper. But--much more
than this--my lady has--has lost her faith in me, my fool's dream
is over--nothing matters any more.
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