'Not he! He said, "She's come a cropper—that's her look-out. But people who come croppers won't do for me. No croppers in the Barmouth family! We don't like them; we aren't accustomed to them in the Barmouth family. I've my career," he said. "That's more to me than she is."' Airey paused a moment and held up an emphatic finger. 'In point of fact, that miserable man, Mervyn, behaved exactly as I should have done a fortnight ago. Substitute his prejudices and his career for my safe and my money, and he and I would be exactly the same—I mean, a fortnight ago. If ever a man lost a woman by his own act, Mervyn is the man!'
'So if I say yes to you, and run away——?'
'The earth isn't big enough to hide you, nor the railway fares big enough to stop me.'
'And Beaufort Chance?' she murmured, trying him again.
'Men who buy love get the sort of love that's for sale,' he answered in brief contempt.
She smiled as, leaning forward, she put her last question.
'And Mr. Fricker?' said she.
Airey gave a tug at his beard and a puzzled whimsical glance at her.
'Do you press me as to that?'
'Yes, of course I do. What about Mr. Fricker?'