“Rubbish, gammon!” cried Peace. “It’s not much persuading she wanted—not a bit of it; it’s her own free will. But, there, I don’t want to pain you by these remarks; but it’s what everybody says—everybody but you.”
“I am satisfied, and am exceedingly glad I’ve seen you.”
“I tell you what I’d do; but, of course, you have done so.”
“Done what?”
“Insisted upon the earl allowing you a handsome income for the remainder of your life.”
“I will not touch a penny of his money. Would starve first. Do you think I would consent to sell my wife?”
“Ah, well, that’s a matter of taste,” returned Peace. “I know which way the cat would jump if I were in your place; but, of course, all that is, as I before observed, a matter of taste.”
“Ah,” murmured the young engineer, with a deep-draw nigh, “it is astonishing what different views men take in matters of this sort.”
“You take it too much to heart, I’m thinking,” cried Peace.
“What makes you think so?”