“Thats very strange. You are not going to marry her then, I suppose?”
“How can I? I tell you she has deserted me. Let me remind you, Lind, that I should not be bound to marry her in any case, and I shall certainly not do so now. If I chose to justify myself, I could easily do so by her own conduct.”
“I expect you will not be troubled for any justification. People seem to have made up their minds that you were wrong in the first instance, and you ought to keep out of the way until they have forgotten——Oh, confound it, here’s Conolly! Now, for God’s sake, dont let us have any row.”
Douglas whitened, and took a step back into the roadway before he recovered himself; for Conolly had come upon them suddenly as they turned into Charles Street. A group of gentlemen stood on the steps of the clubhouse which stands at that corner.
“Bless me!” said Conolly, with perfect good humor. “Douglas back again! Why on earth did you run away with my wife? and what have you done with her?”
The party on the steps ceased chatting and began to stare.
“This is not the place to call me to account, sir,” said Douglas, still on his guard, and very ill at ease. “If you have anything to say to me which cannot be communicated through a friend, it had better be said in private.”
“I shall trouble you for a short conversation,” said Conolly. “How do you do, Lind? Where can we go? I do not belong to any club.”
“My apartments are at hand,” said Douglas.
“I suppose I had better leave you,” said Marmaduke.