"Not a straw."
"Then, why don't she break it off?"
"Ah, you innocent?" said Rickmansworth, with a broad grin. "Never heard of such a thing as money in the case, did you? Where have you been these last five-and-forty years?"
"Your raillery's a little fatiguing, Rick, if you don't mind my saying so."
"Say anything you like, old chap, as long as it isn't swearing. That's verbot here—penalty one mark—see regulations. You must go outside, if you want to curse, barring of course you're a millionaire and like to make a splash."
"Rick, Rick, you do not amuse me. I do not belong to the Albatross Club."
"No; over age," replied his companion blandly, and chuckled violently.
"I like to score off old Ayre, you know," he said, in reporting the episode afterward. "He thinks himself smart."
"But look here. I want you to do this: you go to Haddington and stir him up; tell him to bustle along; tell him Kate is fooling him, and make him put it to her—yes or no."
"Why? it's not my funeral!"