"Chiltern did, frequently. He made me strip my shoulder to show him the place where he hit me."
"How like Oswald!"
"And he told me that he would have given one of his eyes to kill me, only Colepepper wouldn't let him go on. He half quarrelled with his second, but the man told him that I had not fired at him, and the thing must drop. 'It's better as it is, you know,' he said. And I agreed with him."
"And how did Violet receive you?"
"Like an angel,—as she is."
"Well, yes. I'll grant she is an angel now. I was angry with her once, you know. You men find so many angels in your travels. You have been honester than some. You have generally been off with the old angel before you were on with the new,—as far at least as I knew."
"Is that meant for rebuke, Lady Laura?"
"No, my friend; no. That is all over. I said to myself when you told me that you would come, that I would not utter one ill-natured word. And I told myself more than that!"
"What more?"
"That you had never deserved it,—at least from me. But surely you were the most simple of men."