He would not allow her to inflict the further
and irreparable injury of coming between him and the friend he loved as a
brother. He slipped quietly into his former easy attitude before he
resumed, smiling: "Currish, indeed it may be, but that is exactly the
kind of old dog Tray I am."
"You will please take notice that _I_ have said nothing of the sort,"
Briscoe stiffly rejoined. "But I think and I do say that it is a
preposterous instance of coxcombry to subject such a woman as Mrs.
Royston--because of a generous moment of self-reproach for a cruel and
selfish deed--to the imputation of inviting advances from a man who coyly
plans evasion and flight--and she scarcely two years a widow."
"Time cuts no ice in the matter," Bayne forced himself to continue the
discussion. "She has certainly shown the manes of Archibald Royston the
conventional respect."
"She made an awful mistake, we all know that! And although I realized
that it was on account of that rubbishy little quarrel you and she got up
at the last moment, I felt for her, because to people generally her
choice was subject to the imputation of being wholly one of interest.
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