‘Oh yes,’ said Paul, ‘I knew him. What brought him here? I behaved very badly toold Darco.’
‘Well, to tell you the truth,’ said the other, ‘he said so. “Ant I nefer forgive an incradidude,” says he, and proved it by paying the doctor’s bill.’
Every man in the profession had a more or less plausible imitation of old Darco’s ‘leedle beguliaridies.’ He was as well known as the Strand, and loved and hated as few men are.
‘I treated Darco very badly,’ said Paul. ‘I can’t rest under that sort of obligation to him. How much did he pay?’
‘You’d better ask the doctor.’
Paul asked the doctor next time he saw him, but elicited nothing.
‘But I can’t allow it,’ Paul cried; ‘I can’t endure it I behaved abominably to Darco; I behaved like a beast and a fool. I’d take his scorn and hatred if he thought I was worth either; but I can’t accept his benefits after the way in which I served him. I left the kindest friend I ever had, the man who took me out of the gutter—and that’s God’s truth, doctor; and I left him to follow that——’
He ground his teeth hard on the word he was fain to use.
‘Steady!’ said the doctor—’ steady!’
‘That Ignis Fatuus,’ groaned Paul. ‘Is that mild enough for you?’