"With Crocker even?" asked Roden.
"Well; he might be an exception."
"But if an exception to you, why not also an exception to me? As it happens, Crocker has made himself disagreeable to me. Instead of being my friend, he is,—I will not say my enemy, because I should be making too much of him; but nearer to being so than any one I know. Now, what is the meaning of all this? Why did he trouble you especially down in Cumberland? Why do you call him my friend? And why do you wish to speak to me about him?"
"He introduced himself to me, and told me that he was your special friend."
"Then he lied."
"I should not have cared about that;—but he did more."
"What more did he do?"
"I would have been courteous to him,—if only because he sat at the same desk with you;—but—"
"But what?"
"There are things which are difficult to be told."