“You did your best to cheer her up, I have no doubt.”
“My very best.”
“Umph, it is altogether a most unfortunate affair, De Monpres, and I need not tell you that it has been a source of trouble to me, which, despite all the philosophy I can bring to bear upon it, still hangs heavily on my conscience.”
“Conscience—bah! You have nothing to charge yourself with—have acted in every way as becomes an honourable gentleman.”
“Oh, no—no!” interrupted the earl, with sudden warmth.
“That is my view of the matter,” observed the Frenchman, “and I am a much older man than you are, and ought to be a competent judge of what is wrong and what is right. Why, my dear young friend, in my young days these things were as common occurrences as possible. Nobody even thought anything of them. You became enamoured of a young and fascinating female, and she was attached to you; well, the end we both know. What do you propose doing?”
“That is precisely why I have been so anxious to see you.”
“To seek my advice—eh?”
“Yes.”
“You cannot do otherwise than make a provision for her.”